Max Verstappen has revealed how he transformed his qualifying chances at the British GP to take a surprise pole position.
Max Verstappen struggled for pace in the early stages of qualifying, complaining of a car that handled poorly as well as gear selection issues. Yet, he consistently featured at the top of the leaderboards across qualifying.
His final run in Q3 was particularly impressive, hooking up a perfect lap to storm to pole position. Rivals Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris all failed into improve, while Lewis Hamilton’s attempt fizzled away in his final sector.
Speaking in Parc Ferme after the session, Max Verstappen confirmed how he took the coveted pole position at the British GP. His final lap featured a car that looked planted, responsive and able to handle the unique characteristics of Silverstone. This was in a stark contrast to Friday, when the RB21 looked a car nearly impossible to handle.
“Yeah, it was tricky out there with the wind throughout all of qualifying, Q1, Q2, Q3. It was all shifting around a bit. Yeah, a bit different. And around here, with these cars, you know, it’s extremely sensitive to it.
“So, just trying to tidy it up throughout all of qualifying. And that final lap was good enough.But, yeah, it was proper. I mean, this is a proper track, you know, in qualifying, when you have to go flat out in all these corners, you have to be really committed, and that’s really enjoyable.”
A question of setup perfection for Max Verstappen during British GP qualifying
Asked if his transformation in car confidence and performance from Friday to Saturday was due to set up changes focused on race pace, Verstappen gave an honest assessment.
“Yeah, exactly,” he said. “We’re quite quick on the straight, which, of course, is not that easy in the high-speed corners to manage. But we did today, luckily.
Of course, we have to wait and see what, you know, tomorrow will do, if there’s a bit of rain around or not. But I’m happy, of course, with our qualifying. It’s a big boost for the team as well.And, yeah, just excited to go racing now tomorrow.“
However, Max Verstappen was coy on his chances of racing the two in form McLarens past the opening laps of the race, given the speed advantage the championship leaders enjoy.
“Difficult to say, but we’ll try. You know, we’re going to go racing, we’re going to have fun, and we’re going to try to do the best we can.“
