The Alfa Romeo driver was happy to qualify ahead of the former teammate Lewis Hamilton, but he was even happier to repay what he called “a proper team effort” to get his car back on track.

The Finnish driver experienced a shunt in FP1 which cost him the opportunity to get a grasp of the new Miami International Autodrome. Despite the limited number of laps, Bottas made it his goal to deliver for his team after all their hard work to repair the damages.

“It is satisfying [to qualify ahead of Mercedes] I think today, especially after the day I had yesterday,” said Bottas.

By my mistake we lost a lot of running; it was extra work for the team, and it was a really nice recovery by a proper team effort.

“Once the car was there, once we found the set-up for the quali then it was up to me to get up to rhythm and deliver”

"I think performance-wise in qualifying this is the best the car felt this year.

“I really wanted to deliver for the team because of my mistake yesterday and that makes me even more happy.

“It was far from an easy day yesterday, not many laps but then we had a good practice in FP3, got a clear direction with the set-up and then it was all about me finding the rhythm lap by lap. And by the end of Q3 I found the rhythm.

That’s P5 in the bag for @ValtteriBottas! 🤩 #MiamiGP pic.twitter.com/PhNHFRrbje

— Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN (@alfaromeoorlen) May 7, 2022

Asked about the race, Bottas said he expected a “demanding” Grand Prix under the Miami heat. And while he ruled out being able to challenge Ferrari and Red Bull on pace, he claimed his C42 will continue to perform well.

“Tomorrow, I think it’s going to be a big challenge,” said Bottas. “With the tyres in this temperature, with the cars, even for drivers, I’m sweating so much the body just cannot cool down in this humidity, so it’s going to be demanding. But I think we have a good race car as we’ve had every race so far this year, so we will be fighting up there.