Max Verstappen has revealed how he secured pole position for the F1 Saudi Arabian GP after a spectacular lap under the lights.
As the final few minutes of Q3 ticked away, Max Verstappen held a provisional third on the grid. George Russell held the coveted top spot, with Oscar Piastri’s McLaren in second. But in the dying seconds, Verstappen pulled out a blinding lap, to move ahead of Piastri by the smallest of margins to steal pole position.
Speaking in the post-qualifying press conference, Max Verstappen spoke of his confidence in the RB21 on Saturday. When asked, he admitted it was a good lap, particuarly given the car’s narrow operating window.
“Good enough, clearly. I felt immediately more confident when I headed into qualifying. We made some minor changes to the car, but they were clearly big enough to feel, and I think that’s a bit the story of our car. It can be really hit and miss. When we get it right, I think it’s competitive, of course.
“But when we don’t get it right, it’s a lot more difficult. But all of qualifying went well. Around here, I think it’s always important to have quite a bit of rhythm. So, naturally, you do quite a lot of laps.
“Also, the tyres, luckily, they hold on to do that. Of course, then the red flag in Q3 is not ideal, but everyone has to deal with that. So we opted for that two-lap strategy, and I’m happy that we did that. Just kept me on top of things, and it felt good.
High speed corners secret to Max Verstappen F1 Saudi Arabian GP qualifying success?
Verstappen said he took more risks in Q3 to secure pole position, but said “clearly, it was good enough”.
“I think at the end of the day, you just need to try and have a clean lap, try to be on the limit. But around here, honestly, it’s super hard because some corners, like, you want to try and be super close to the wall.
“Sometimes it works out. Sometimes it doesn’t. Braking into 22 is very bumpy, so you don’t even see where you’re going when you turn in. So it’s very hard to get everything right. But, yeah, clearly, it was good enough. And, yeah, of course, in Q3, you risk everything a bit more.
When asked why the RB21’s performance dramatically transformed compared to Bahrain last week, Verstappen highlighted the characteristics of the Corniche circuit.
“Few more high-speed corners. The tarmac is completely different, which has a big influence on the tyres as well. Naturally, when you have tracks where you need a lot of rotation mid-corner, and long-duration corners, which you have in Bahrain, that’s a big problem for us.
“Here, it just seems to be a little bit more competitive. I’m not saying that it’s solved, but at least it gave me an opportunity to push a bit better and deal with the limitations that we have a bit better.
Verstappen downplayed his chances of converting pole position into victory when asked. However, he said he would ‘give it a go”.
“Up until now, not very confident, to be honest. My long runs weren’t particularly great compared to Oscar or Lando. I’m going to give it everything I have, for sure. Does it mean that I have enough? I don’t know.
“But the car definitely took a bit of a step forward compared to what we were testing yesterday. So I hope that will help our tyre life out as well, but difficult to say that gives an opportunity to fight. But like I said, I’m going to give it a go.”
