Bottas laments sticking with new aero package

If he could do it all over again, Valtteri Bottas would revert back to Mercedes' previous aero package for qualifying in which the Finn found himself 0.68s off the pace from Lewis Hamilton.

In a bid to boost its performance, Mercedes ran its drivers with different settings on Saturday with Hamilton reverting back to the W08's previous aero configuration.

While Hamilton clinched pole by a small margin from Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, Bottas was left adrift from his team mate in Q3.

"It's easy to say afterwards, but if I could do the qualifying again for sure I'd go for the other package," Bottas told NBCSN.

• Hamilton on pole, Vettel at rear for Malaysia GP

"For sure, we need to review everything. We need to see what are the actual differences. Obviously the gap in Q3 was huge. It's difficult to say [for the race], we will see tomorrow.

"We will look into everything to fully understand what's going on with the car because it's so much work sometimes to get it working right, and sometimes we get it working and sometimes not. I didn't get it today."

Bottas was still hopeful of recovering some pace for tomorrow's race and not find himself in a position where he will need to fend off a charge from the back by Sebastian Vettel.

"Hopefully we have enough pace that we can focus ahead, and try to beat both of the Ferraris rather than just one," he said.

"We'll see how it goes."

Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter