There is always one name in front of everyone, that of Max Verstappen. Even the qualifying sessions that decide the grid order of tomorrow morning’s sprint race see the Dutchman prevail ahead of the most fearsome duo, McLaren, who took second and third place respectively with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
In a rather strange qualifying session, where the drivers took to the track for the first time in SQ3 with just three minutes before the checkered flag, at that point it became crucial not only to put in a good lap, but also to put together all the elements in the only attempt available before the end of qualifying.
A mistake or a problem could have had a significant impact, as Charles Leclerc knows well, having been forced to start from tenth position tomorrow after a technical failure in the pit lane forced him to give up the decisive run.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
In short, today it was essential to be able to find everything on the first try: setup, time and lap as clean as possible and, once again, on that combination there is Max Verstappen’s name next to that of Red Bull, in front of that which can be defined as a sort of home crowd for the team. As told in the interviews, in fact, the weekend started in a positive way not only because Max managed to achieve pole position for the sprint race, but also because he felt he had found a good balance with the car in a short time, which gave him it allowed us to work on the details from the beginning instead of having to overturn the structure.
“It’s nice to be first here, in front of what are practically my home fans, in my home Grand Prix. It’s been a good day so far,” Verstappen said during interviews.
“It was really nice to drive the car. I think the car was well balanced straight away. Then, obviously, some small adjustments were made in view of qualifying and everything worked very well. So, yes, a good start to the weekend. Of course there are still many things to do, but I am satisfied with what we have done today,” added the Dutchman.
Alongside Verstappen on the front row there will be the man who has been his most fearsome rival in recent events, namely Lando Norris. In such a short race, the start will be above all fundamental, in order to stay in front and keep the rivals in the dirty air, especially in the last sector, what has proven to be a strong point for Red Bull so far: “We’ll find out tomorrow how it will go with Norris. I’m not too stressed about it. I will enjoy the evening. I’ll try again tomorrow.”
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