Max Verstappen said his pole position for the Australian Grand Prix was "unexpected" - but found his groove after making "tickles" to his car's set-up.
The Dutchman did not top the timesheets in any of the three practice sessions in Melbourne. And he spent much of his time complaining over the radio about having too much understeer, including at the start of qualifying.
But he overcame those issues to set the fastest time in Q3, holding off the challenge from Carlos Sainz. And the triple F1 champion admitted after the session that he was pleasantly surprised to have secured pole.
He said: "I think so far this weekend, it has been a bit tough to find a good balance in the car. Even throughout qualifying, Q1, Q2, I didn't really feel like fighting for pole.
"But then we made some little tickles on the car, and that seemed to help me in Q3 to really push it to the limit. And both of my laps, I felt quite happy with it. There's always things that you can improve, but overall, I'm very satisfied with the performance."
Inside the driver call which upset Red Bull and changed the course of F1 history
Verstappen has now taken pole position for all three races held at the start of this new season. And, if he can convert this latest one into a victory on Sunday, he will equal his own record of 10 consecutive F1 Grand Prix victories.
The 26-year-old said it had been "harder to find a good balance in the car". But Red Bull have shown far superior race pace to their competitors already this season.
Nevertheless, Verstappen hinted he expects more of a challenge than usual in Melbourne on Sunday. He added: "It looks like Ferrari are also very fast and quite comfortable the whole weekend already. Hopefully, it will be an interesting race tomorrow."
Team-mate Sergio Perez also continued his own strong start to the season by qualifying third behind Sainz. However, he was later knocked down to sixth after the stewards punished him for impeding Nico Hulkenberg earlier in the session.
"I think definitely there was a bit more in it," said the slightly annoyed Mexican, who went on to the speak of the importance of looking after his tyres when it comes to the main event.
He explained: "We've got a fight on our hands to the Ferraris and to the rest of the field. I think degradation is going to be very high, so I think starting position is not that relevant at the moment. We have changed our strategy a bit for tomorrow and let's see who can survive the most on the degradation side."
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
