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Reigning world champion Max Verstappen has had a less than ideal start to the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, having managed only a fourth-place finish for the grid behind his teammate and both Ferraris in qualifying. Despite quite a disappointing qualifying session, the Dutchman hopes to put up a fight with Ferrari on Sunday.
As reported by the Express, Max Verstappen detailed what went wrong in qualifying, saying:
“It wasn’t amazing in Q3, I think Q1 and Q2 everything was looking quite good. My first set [of tyres] in Q3 were terrible. They were just moving around a lot more so it was really difficult for me to drive. When you have that bad of a rhythm and you go onto your second tyre set, I didn’t really feel comfortable. I did something different, maybe it wasn’t the right thing. I was quite confident that it would work.”
Expressing hope for a good race on Sunday, he added, saying:
“It was working in Q1 and Q2 but in Q3 it felt pretty awful. It’s something we need to look into. I’m complaining and didn’t have a good feeling but the potential of the car is there. Checo did a great job today so I’m very happy for him. Hopefully we can make it difficult for Ferrari tomorrow.”
In a social media post, he reassured fans that Red Bull still has a "good race car". Unlike in the past few seasons, Red Bull's main competitors this season seem to be Ferrari. With Mercedes struggling to match up to these two teams in terms of pace and reliability, Max Verstappen is expected to have a great battle for the title with Charles Leclerc and possibly Carlos Sainz.
Christian Horner comments on Max Verstappen being out-qualified by his team-mate
It is fair to say that the team was extremely pleased with Sergio Perez's sensational lap in the Saudi Arabian qualifying, which earned him his very first pole position. The Red Bull team boss pointed out that this is the second time the Mexican has out-qualified Max Verstappen.
As reported by Eurosport, Horner spoke about Perez's phenomenal session in Jeddah, saying:
“We could see it coming and coming, and the Ferraris put down such a competitive marker. For Checo [Sergio Perez] to go do that, only the second time I think he’s out-qualified Max [Verstappen]. To put in a lap like that, here at the hardest, most dangerous circuit that we go, it’s an unbelievable performance from him.”
Red Bull have struggled to find the right teammate for their star driver ever since the departure of Daniel Ricciardo at the end of 2018. The Austrian-outfit seems to have finally found some consistency with Sergio Perez in the team.
