Bottas still looking to snap at Ferrari's heels

Valtteri Bottas  concluded his running on Saturday with P5 in qualifying, a result which put the Williams driver pretty much where he expected to be.

The Finn  was fractionally slower than P4 man Sebastian Vettel , and satisfied with his day's performance which hopefully bodes well for his chances in the race tomorrow.

"I'm especially pleased with the Q3 lap at the end, the car felt very nice, so it was the maximum for us today," Bottas said.

Bottas admitted that achieving the right balance for his Williams was a tricky task given the specific tyre pressures imposed by Pirelli in China.

"You're not really optimizing the full potential of the tyre because you're not using the whole surface, it's more like most of the middle bit that you're using. But it's the same for everyone."

As Williams attempts to edge closer to its rivals up ahead, the closest one being Ferrari, Bottas believes they are doing their best but the Scuderia is also pulling out all the stops to try and bridge the gap with Mercedes.

"It's tough, at this point of the season we are pretty clearly behind them but we'll keep pushing. I'll always do my best and try to squeeze every single bit out of the car and hopefully it will pay off."

Since the beginning of the season the diversity of strategies put into plan by the top teams has been an interesting feature. Bottas believes it will be more of the same for tomorrow's race, while hoping for a better strategy than the one Williams managed in Bahrain.

"We'll see different strategies that will lead to a lot happening in the race, with maybe more overtaking.

"We didn't fully maximize our strategy and tyre choices  in Bahrain, but I'm more confident for here. We have a good plan and we just need to execute it and make the most of it."

Rosberg beats Ricciardo to pole as Hamilton falls in Q1

AS IT HAPPENED: Chinese Grand Prix - Qualifying

Romain Grosjean column: A start beyond my craziest dream