Sergio Perez on pole, Lewis Hamilton eliminated in Q1 and Max Verstappen fourth. It seems to be a fictional story and instead it is the pure reality of what happened in the qualifications of Jeddah.
On the Arab track it was the least expected man of the two leading teams who prevailed. Perez made the most of the new soft Pirelli and mocked Leclerc by just 25 thousandths, thus obtaining his first pole in Formula 1, while Max suffered throughout Q3 and was unable to do better than the fourth time trial by paying a gap of well 261 thousandths from his teammate.
What stopped the world champion from shining in qualifying? According to what the Red Bull driver said to the Sky Sport F1 HD microphones, there was no feeling with the soft tires to emerge in Q3.
“In the first attempt, I didn’t have any grip on the whole circuit. The car was moving strangely and I didn’t have the same feeling I had in both Q1 and Q2. When you don’t feel at ease on this track you can’t attack the corners as you would like and this forced me to be fourth ”.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB18
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Despite the fourth time, Verstappen welcomed the pole conquered by his teammate and wanted to underline how this result highlights all the goodness of the Red Bull RB18 designed by Adrian Newey.
“When I crossed the finish line, I didn’t expect anything good because I knew I hadn’t had a good feeling. Obviously it wasn’t the result I wanted, but luckily Checo made pole and this shows how our car has the potential. ”.
Max then explained that he is more confident for the race precisely because tire management is less problematic than in qualifying.
“In the race we manage to stabilize the pressure and make the tires work. It is totally different than in qualifying where you have to be flawless in tire preparation. Today it did not go well from this point of view “.
A decidedly different mood on the other side of the Red Bull garage where Sergio Perez got his first pole in Formula 1 thanks to a masterpiece lap – especially in T2 – which ended with a time of 1’28”200.
“It took a few races to get there, but what an incredible lap! Even if I had to do another thousand laps I would not be able to do an identical one. We didn’t expect to be able to beat the Ferraris in qualifying and we hope to be able to win tomorrow as well ”.
#Verstappen #grip #track