Bottas was left disappointed after his exit in the second qualifying segment at Albert Park ended his record of consecutive Q3 session appearances at 103.
The Alfa Romeo driver, who started the first two races of 2022 with his new team in sixth and eighth positions, could manage only 12th place in Melbourne.
Bottas admitted that Alfa Romeo didn’t quite have the pace in qualifying, highlighting a late decision to switch to a smaller rear wing between FP3 and qualifying in response to the FIA’s decision to remove one of the DRS zones.
“I had two good laps in Q2,” Bottas said when asked by Autosport about his session.
“The first run and then second one was okay, but just not quick enough, just missing a few tenths I guess.
“And it was a bit surprising, because I really thought we should be in Q3. But the only reason what I can think of now is we opted for smaller wing on my car since they changed the DRS zone.
“It’s better for the race, but for quali maybe I paid a small price for…
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