Valtteri Bottas says he and Williams executed everything perfectly in Q3 after qualifying third for the Belgian Grand Prix.
Bottas was the fastest non-Mercedes driver on Saturday afternoon, edging Romain Grosjean's Lotus by just 0.03s. Williams had looked off the pace all weekend, as it often does in practice, but demonstrated the strength of the Mercedes engine when it mattered in qualifying.
"Analysing everything after practice we knew that it was going to be really close after these guys [Mercedes]," Bottas said. "So we knew P3 could be possible if we get everything perfectly and it was close. We managed to get everything right and this was the result."
There was just a tenth separating Bottas from team-mate Felipe Massa but three cars between them. Bottas says Williams found the perfect set-up in time for the final qualifying session.
"It's good to be back in top three in qualifying. It was a good session for us. We knew from practice, when we were looking at the timesheets, that there's so much more we can do to put everything together in the car. So we managed to get the balance fine-tuned really well for the qualifying and the car felt good through the whole session.
"Didn't really need to adjust the front flap or anything a lot, so it was pretty well-balanced. Then in Q3 it was up to me to try and put the lap together, try and put every corner together, which is not easy in this kind of track. But had two good runs in Q3 and luckily that was enough for P3."