Quickest in both sessions on Friday, he beat Red Bull’s Max Verstappen by just .017 with Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton .083 back from Bottas in third in warm and sunny conditions.
His confidence needs boosting because he trails Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton by 47 points in the standings, and not won a race since the season-opener in Austria.
Bottas was 0.229 seconds faster than Carlos Sainz and 0.323 quicker than Lando Norris after an impressive showing from the McLaren pair.
The championship leader finished .262 ahead of Bottas, who was quickest in first practice. McLaren driver Lando Norris was third, .897 slower than Hamilton.
The Finnish driver’s best lap was .245 seconds quicker than Hamilton and .797 ahead of Red Bull driver Alexander Albon.
The Finnish driver's best lap was .069 seconds quicker than his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton, who leads the championship after winning four of the first six races.
Bottas was ahead of championship leader Hamilton on the first two splits but lost a fraction of time when he came out too wide from a turn at the end of his lap
The championship leader finished .287 ahead of Bottas, who had been quicker than Hamilton earlier in first practice.
The Finnish driver was .039 quicker than championship leader Hamilton and about 1 second ahead of Max Verstappen
Bottas took his first pole since the opening race of the pandemic-delayed season in Austria, which he went on to win.
Bottas posted a lap of 1 minute 26.166 seconds, beating Hamilton's best time by .138 seconds. Max Verstappen was third-fastest for Red Bull in 1:26.893.
Bottas played a key role in the team's success in the Constructors' Championship over the past three seasons and finished runner-up in the Drivers' Championship in 2019.
Lewis Hamilton needs five more wins to equal Michael Schumacher’s Formula One record of 91 GP wins.
It was Hamilton’s second straight pole this season and record-extending 90th of his Formula One career.
Championship leader Bottas was .042 seconds ahead of the Formula One champion in overcast conditions on the Hungaroring track.
Hamilton clinched his 85th career win to move within six of Michael Schumacher's Formula One record.
Kallenius has now said that the two Mercedes drivers have been performing at the highest level for a while now and there is no point in tinkering with the line-up.
That’s a tall order with six-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton as his teammate at Mercedes. Especially as Hamilton needs one more title to equal Michael Schumacher's record of seven.
Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas wins Formula One's season-opening Austrian GP, with Charles Leclerc finishing second and Lando Norris doing enough to squeeze out Lewis Hamilton to take the third spot.
The Finnish driver edged out the world champion by .012 seconds at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg.
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