"One of the great qualifying laps in F1 history" - Max Verstappen's pole receives special praise from F1 pundit

Max Verstappen has received high praise from F1 pundit Karun Chandhok after a brilliant qualifying session for the 2023 F1 Japanese GP on Saturday (September 23). The Dutchman set a blistering lap time of 1:28:877 to bag the pole position for the race. He was more than half a second up on second-placed Oscar Piastri.

Speaking about the excellence of Max Verstappen's lap, Chandhok feels that it was one of the best in F1 history. He explained how the Red Bull star did not leave anything on the table and finessed his way through the Suzuka Circuit.

The F1 pundit said on Sky Sports:

"I'm still breathless watching that. I think that was one of the great qualifying laps in F1 history. There's not much left on the table. The detail with which he drove - pinching little bits on the entry into Spoon Curve, 130R not using all the width."

Chandhok further praised Max Verstappen for a brilliant lap in the Japanese GP qualifying and claimed that Red Bull would not have bagged a pole position if he had not been there.

He said:

"He thought about every metre and for me that's a driver who's ahead of the car. Christian was saying that's one of the special laps and he's right. If they didn't have Max in the car, they would be second on the grid."

After a rare hiccup at the Singapore GP, it looks like Red Bull and Max Verstappen are now back in form.

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Max Verstappen's thoughts on Singapore GP

Max Verstappen recently gave his views on the battle between Carlos Sainz, Lando Norris, George Russell, and Lewis Hamilton at the 2023 F1 Singapore GP. When asked by the press whether he feels these kinds of tight battles between multiple teams are good for F1, he clearly stated that he is not interested in that.

He said:

"Honestly, I have zero interest in that... we got beaten in a very clear way. I don't think about what is good for F1, I don't think it was necessarily bad [when Red Bull was dominating], what was happening, we were just better than everyone else."

Furthermore, he claimed that people who cannot appreciate a team and a driver excelling at their jobs and dominating the sport are not real fans. He continued:

"If people can't appreciate that, you are not a real fan, but this is how it goes. This is why I was super relaxed about it [in Singapore GP]. We didn't perform and other people did a better job than us and deserved to win. They shouldn't win because people say it's boring that we are winning."

Max Verstappen is currently cruising at the top of the drivers' championship table with 374 points.