16:57 – Max Verstappen has, in addition to the dominant Mercedes duo, also had to leave Nico Hülkenberg in front during qualifying for the 70th Anniversary GP. The Red Bull driver says in retrospect that his own session did not go entirely as desired, but that he does allow Nico Hülkenberg the third place. “It would be great if this result leads him to a seat for next year.”
Verstappen already knew in advance that qualifying would be his biggest challenge of the weekend. “Qualifying can get pretty exciting to take P3, but on Sunday it should normally be a lonely race again.” At the supreme moment these words turned out to make sense, at least the first part of it. On Saturday it was not a ‘walk in the park’ on the way to P3. The eight-time GP winner also had to let the Hulk go ahead and settle for the last place on the second row.
“Ultimately, P4 is not quite as we would like, but you can clearly see that Racing Point has taken a step this week. And then of course it is nice that Nico takes third place”, Verstappen says immediately afterwards. Ziggo Sport know. The Dutchman has previously indicated that he finds Hülkenberg ‘F1 worthy’ and hopes that this outlier will put him on the right track at the negotiating table. “Of course it would be great if such a result could lead to another seat for him next year.”
Racepace better than Racing Point, one stop almost impossible
Before that happens, Verstappen wants to take the German on Sunday. “Normally we are faster in the race”, Verstappen clearly aims for the last podium place. In addition, it should go better on Sunday anyway. “It didn’t help today that I always drove on different tires. Soft, medium, hard and then again hard, medium, soft. In general, the balance in our car was not great with this wind. That is of course for everyone the same, but our car seems to be sensitive to that. So I lost a lot of time in the second sector on the last lap, but hey: it is what it is. “
An interesting aspect is that Verstappen is the only driver from the top ten to start on the hardest tire. It’s a direct result of a tactical move in Q2. Where almost all drivers in that session reached for the mediums, Verstappen and Red Bull opted for the tire with white cheeks. “We did try something different and luckily we got through Q2 on that band.” It means that Verstappen will depart on a different strategy on Sunday, although fans should not count themselves particularly rich with that. “No, this is just a different strategy. I don’t think anyone is going for a one stopper, but we’ll see.”
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