Max Verstappen’s third position was a pleasant surprise for him and Red Bull-Honda. Moreover, the gap towards Lewis Hamilton was only three tenths and the Dutchman starts the sprint race directly behind his rival.
“Compared to last year, we have about halved the gap. Checo played a crucial role as a team player today to give Max a tow and help Max to that position. We were vulnerable against McLaren,” Christian Horner thanks Checo Perez afterwards. of the qualification.
The difference with Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo was only a few thousandths. Had Verstappen been 0.030 seconds slower, he would have only had fifth place.
“Checo sacrificed half a second himself. He deserved to be higher, but we are very happy with the result,” said Horner.
On Saturday, the first points can be earned during the sprint qualifying race. There, Horner also immediately sees an opportunity for Verstappen to strike. The Dutchman is on the clean side of the track, while Hamilton has to start on the dirty side.
“The run to the first corner is going to be interesting. Max will start on the right side of the track. Hopefully he can pick up a slipstream in the run to that corner, so that he can put even more pressure on them (Mercedes, ed.). I I’m sure Lewis would have liked to have preferred to be on the left, which makes it an interesting sprint race.”
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