Lewis Hamilton conceded he had produced a sub-standard effort in qualifying for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix and predicted Sunday will see a race without too much drama.
With Mercedes on the brink of clinching a seventh successive constructors' championship this weekend, Valtteri Bottas will start the race at Imola on pole.
Bottas beat team-mate Hamilton by 0.097seconds in qualifying on Saturday to claim his second pole in three attempts.
Hamilton, who last time out claimed the outright F1 record with a 92nd race win in Portugal, will fight hard for a third straight victory but thinks whoever leads after turn one will be in a strong position to triumph.
"Valtteri did a great job and that was a pretty p***-poor lap from myself," said Hamilton, who leads the standings by 77 points.
"These things happen and you can't always get it perfect. I am grateful to have the performance that we have, it is really remarkable - it feels better here for us than it did in the last race."
Asked about the circuit and what was in store for the race, Hamilton replied: "The speeds we are going around this track are unbelievable. It is a real challenge.
"What is unfortunate on this track is it is so beautiful to drive but I'm pretty certain you are going to see a pretty a boring race.
"You can overtake on this long straight, but it is quite narrow and you can't follow it up. Once you get into turn one it is a train from there, there is no real single place to overtake anywhere else.
"It is going to be a challenge for people following. The DRS hopefully will give some opportunities for overtakes at turn one, but you need two seconds' advantage [to overtake there].
"I will give it everything I have got, fingers crossed. This is a beautiful location, this part of Italy. They don't build tracks like this anymore, it is a classic and has got the history."
A sensational lap around a sensational track
— Formula 1 (@F1) October 31, 2020
Take a tour of Imola with @ValtteriBottas#ImolaGP #F1 @pirellisport pic.twitter.com/adDrbeIA38
Pole-sitter Bottas is ready for a battle at turn one, with Max Verstappen also a threat from third.
"You always have to fight, it is never easy getting pole positions," he said. "This track when you push flat out is beautiful and it's a great feeling to get pole - I definitely had the shakes afterwards!
"I had to improve on the last lap and I found those small gains that were needed.
"It's going to be a good fight. It is one of the longest runs in the calendar down to turn one. No doubt Lewis and Max will be there chasing me but it is a good place to start, hopefully the pace is good. Game on."
On average it would have taken 15 minutes to solve @Max33Verstappen's issue...@RedBullRacing did it in just 8 minutes#ImolaGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/dg4zwIMnJ7
— Formula 1 (@F1) October 31, 2020
There was some relief for Verstappen, who was almost eliminated in Q2 when an electrical issue left Red Bull mechanics with a race against time to get his car fixed.
He said: "It wasn't a great qualifying because of the issue - we didn't have a lot of laps, I only did two laps in Q1 and then could not get that run in for Q2.
"It was a bit tricky. With the mediums we got through, but we didn’t have a reference point to get into Q3. We seemed to be struggling a bit, not a lot of grip in the first run and just difficult overall.
"At the end of the day P3 is not bad but personally I expected to be a little bit closer to be able to fight Mercedes a little bit more. But after Q2 we just lost our way a little bit."