By squeezing a great lap out of his Red Bull car at the last minute, Max Verstappen managed to beat one of the Mercedes drivers in qualifying for the second time this season. The Red Bull driver himself did not see it coming at all. “The second place on the grid is very unexpected and I don’t say this often, but I think this was one of my best qualifying rounds ever. It felt really good,” he jubilates.
The qualification initially started disappointingly for the Dutchman, who then managed to get his back. “I had a hard time in Q1 and Q2, especially in terms of balance. On the way to the decisive session we made some small improvements to stabilize everything. That paid off in the second run in Q3, and the lap was very good. good.”
If it is up to Verstappen, he fights for pole position every weekend, but he knows that is not possible at the moment. That’s why his second starting place makes him very satisfied. “Of course we want to fight for pole positions and victories this year, but that is not always possible. To be able to split the two Mercedes drivers is very nice. I am happy to be on the front row”, she said. the Dutchman.
Verstappen starts on Sunday behind Lewis Hamilton, who starts on the soft tire after a chaotic second qualifying session. Behind him he finds Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez.
Will Max Verstappen return to the top step of the podium this weekend in Russia after a thunderous qualifying session? Tom Coronel, Ruud Dimmers and host Thomas van Groningen look ahead to the latest episode of the RacingNews365 F1 podcast, which can be heard below.
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