Valtteri Bottas feels he has learned important lessons from his previous race after claiming pole position for the Portuguese Grand Prix. (More Sports News)
Bottas qualified eighth last time out at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix as Max Verstappen took victory for Red Bull.
Verstappen had been tipped to grab pole in Portimao but, after struggling in the windy conditions, he was denied the fastest lap after a correction to avoid a crash at Turn 4 saw his time chalked off for exceeding track limits.
Bottas will start Sunday's race from the front of the grid, denying team-mate Lewis Hamilton the 100th pole of his career by 0.007 seconds, with Verstappen in third.
The Finnish driver was in buoyant mood after tying the great Jackie Stewart on 17 career pole positions, especially given his inauspicious drive at Imola last month, when a crash with George Russell ended a disappointing race weekend.
"It definitely put a smile on my face, because in the first two races of the season, the qualifying really from my side… at least the Q3 session hasn't been the strong point and getting everything out of the car and tyres to work well has been a bit of a weakness," he said.
"But now, it felt like things are starting to go in the right direction. I've been feeling strong all weekend so I knew it was possible and it definitely makes me really happy to put it together in Q3 and be on pole. And as a team as well, with the pressure and with the battle from Red Bull, it's good to be ahead.
"Mentally, I took all the learning points [from Imola], and there were a lot of lessons from that last race, as always. So, I took those, and the rest that I should forget, I completely moved aside and forgot those and moved on."
Hamilton was able to secure a 71st front-row lockout for Mercedes since 2014 but struggled throughout the session, while even the softer compound in Q3 did not yield sufficient grip for better times.
"There was honestly so much time available and I just didn't put it together," said the reigning world champion. "It's really tricky conditions here. The surface of the track is very smooth, and not a lot of grip and the tyres – you need extra laps to get the temperatures even though it's a really nice day.
"Then the balance… one minute you have grip; the next minute, you don't, so it's very tricky for everyone.
"It felt quite good in P3 today and on that Q2 lap it felt solid, and I thought that we were in the right window but it's temperatures... there are gusts of wind so you can be unlucky and get tail winds that perhaps you wouldn't normally get on particular corners."
Verstappen, meanwhile, is hoping for better on Sunday after admitting the lack of grip has made little about the weekend enjoyable so far.
Having won from third at Imola, he remains hopeful Red Bull's straight-line speed will be enough to put the Mercedes under pressure as he aims to overturn the one-point gap to Hamilton in the standings.
"It's been a bit hit and miss anyway, the whole weekend; we're just struggling a lot to find the balance," said Verstappen, who, like the front two, will start the race on medium tyres.
"To be honest, I didn't enjoy one single lap this weekend, just because of the state of the track. I mean the layout is amazing but the grip we are experiencing I don't think is nice. I know it's the same for everyone but for me personally, it's just not enjoyable to drive.
"We'll see [on Sunday] what we can do. It's not so easy to follow here but if we have good pace then, for sure, we'll put the pressure on."
