After moving away from the all-dominant Mercedes squad ahead of the 2022 season, few would have predicted that Valtteri Bottas would be able to out-qualify one of the Mercedes in both of the first two qualifying sessions of the year.

After getting the better of his substitute at Mercedes, George Russell, in Bahrain, Bottas qualified a long way ahead of his former team-mate Lewis Hamilton in Jeddah. While the seven-time champion didn’t even make it past Q1, Bottas went all the way to Q3 to qualify in an excellent eight place for Sunday’s Saudi Arabian GP.

Speaking after the session, Bottas was relieved to see his Alfa Romeo performing well in a fast, flowing circuit like the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, and stressed that his team is on a par with the rest of the field on the fight for P5, behind both Ferrari and Red Bull:

“It’s been nice to see that the in high-speed nature of this circuit, we seem quite strong. Still the same weaknesses (as Bahrain) out there, but it felt good.

“It was so consistent, so close between the competition. The laps were good, that’s where we are. Definitely in the fight, outside the top two teams.

“I think we can fight with everyone who is around us, so it’s going to be an interesting race,” the Finn concluded.

His rookie team-mate, Zhou Guanyu also showed impressive pace in the second qualifying session of the year, and made it through to Q2 for the second time in a row. Zhou was pleased with his result, although he admitted he wasn’t expecting it:

“I feel very good, very delighted obviously. You can see a clear progress from FP1 all the way to qualifying. I was able to make no mistakes, building up my confidence with these cars.

“I never wanted to expect more from myself than in Bahrain, because I knew Jeddah is a completely different layout, you are kissing the wall, and it’s the first time for me to do that, and it’s not easy for rookies,” said Zhou. “Q2 was the target, we reached that, we had a good chance to get to Q3 but (were) a bit unfortunate with the red flags, so the tyre was one lap old on the final push.”

The first ever Chinese driver in Formula 1, Zhou scored points on his debut and impressed many up and down the grid, he is not putting pressure on himself to do the same on Sunday in Jeddah, but believes he has “a good chance”:

“It’s always the target, the points. After scoring points in the first race, Jeddah was (a) dramatic race coming up. There’s a chance, for sure, not just from my position – even the guys starting P20 have a chance, you never know – we have to see.

“I don’t want to put myself into a pressure that I’ll have to reach points, but I think if I just continue fighting and keeping up with the guys around me, we have a good chance to go for it.”

Zhou Guanyu on track in Jeddah - Image by Hasan Bratic - MotorLAT

Team Principal of the Swiss squad, Frederic Vasseur said the team did not have “a perfect session” as it targeted a P5 in qualifying, but highlighted that being disappointed with a P8 is a sign of how far the team has come in the last 12 months:

“It’s a good result, overall. Not the perfect session, because we are one tenth off P5, and at one stage I was thinking about P5.

“You are a bit frustrated when you are P8 compared from where we are coming (P6 in Bahrain qualifying), (but) it’s a good feeling, and it’s also the reward of the job done in the last 12 months. I’m very pleased for them, for us, and for the sponsors as well,” said Vasseur.

He was also very pleased with the performance of Zhou, after expecting a tougher affair for the young Chinese driver on the streets of Jeddah:

“I’m also very pleased for Zhou (Guanyu), because in Bahrain he knew perfectly the track, but I was bit scared (for) Jeddah. He did very well, all over the weekend, he didn’t (make) any single mistake. I think P12 at the end is a great result for him and a great result for the team.“