After the initial run in Q3, the world champion positioned himself at the top of the timesheets. However, he was unable to enhance his performance on the crucial final attempt, resulting in Hamilton surpassing him by a mere 0.003 seconds to secure the top spot on the grid.
Verstappen attributed his inability to maintain his streak of pole positions, which had been ongoing since the Monaco Grand Prix, to a lack of proper balance during the qualifying session.
“I’ve been facing challenges all weekend trying to achieve a satisfactory equilibrium,” the Dutchman expressed. “Each session has been characterized by fluctuations.”
In today’s qualifying session, it was quite challenging in Q1/Q2 to have a sense of assurance and fully push through the corners.
“I believed my initial attempt in Q3 was satisfactory. However, during the subsequent attempt, I experienced a lack of sensation.”
“I made an attempt to exert additional effort, but either the rear or front of the vehicle becomes unstable. Currently, we remain in second place, although I believe we should be leading considering our typically superior car. However, up until now, I don’t think we have performed at our best.”
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB19
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
On Saturday, Verstappen did not believe that the recent changes made by Red Bull to its RB19, such as new sidepods and floor revisions, played a role in the events that occurred.
He stated that he believes the update is functioning properly, but he believes that we simply did not adequately organize and arrange everything during the setup process.
“I believe that today we have been quite disorganized and not precisely where we intended to be.”
Verstappen, despite being outperformed by Hamilton in qualifying, holds a more positive outlook on his car’s performance during the race.
“He explained that the weather will be very hot and the rear tires may pose a challenge, but he believes that during the race things will calm down a bit.”
“I had hoped for a slightly more enjoyable balance during the qualifying session in order to approach it with greater determination.”
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