Bottas disqualified from Silverstone qualifying – with Finn set to start British Grand Prix in P20

Valtteri Bottas ground to a halt at the end of the first segment of qualifying for the British Grand Prix – with more problems to come for the Finn after he was disqualified from qualifying post-session for failing to provide a sufficient fuel sample.

Bottas had bagged a spot in Q2 when his Alfa Romeo ground to a halt at the tail-end of Q1, leaving the Finn stranded on track.

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But after the car was recovered to the pit lane, the FIA were unable to extract the stipulated one-litre fuel sample from the C43 machine, leading to Bottas being disqualified from proceedings – although the stewards have ruled that the two-time Silverstone pole-sitter can start the race in P20.

That will be a boon for Red Bull’s Sergio Perez – who failed to make it to Q3 for a fifth consecutive race – Yuki Tsunoda, Bottas’s Alfa Romeo team mate Zhou Guanyu, Nyck de Vries and Haas driver Kevin Magnussen, who all shift up a place on the grid ahead of Sunday’s race.

“Today’s results are very disappointing, as it seemed we actually had a real chance to make it into the top 10,” said a disgruntled Bottas after qualifying. “I started to lose power on the final in-lap, and then the engine stopped.

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“We eventually figured out it was a technical issue with fuel in the car, and we are already working to address that and make sure it doesn’t happen again. Sadly, this means we’ll be starting at the back of the grid in the race, which is not where we would have deserved to be looking at our pace.

“Still, tomorrow will be a long day and, as always, the weather could add one more element of unpredictability: the car felt better than yesterday, and we have slightly better pace compared to previous events, so our aim will be to make the most out of it and fight as hard as we can through the field.”