today, 21:56 | by Mark Hanselman
Most drivers will not be dissatisfied with a spot on the front row. In fact, Sergio Pérez was even quite happy with a place in the top ten, but Max Verstappen is not exactly satisfied with his second place after five consecutive pole positions. According to the Dutchman, he experienced the worst possible balance in terms of balance, although he is hopeful for a good result in the race, with his poor balance on Saturday perhaps even turning out well.
Verstappen won eight of the ten Grands Prix this season, and finished second in the other two races. He also secured pole position over the past five weekends, so second place doesn’t feel very good. The difference was only three thousandths with his old rival, Lewis Hamilton. “It was terrible,” says Verstappen in the press conference about how the car felt. “It doesn’t matter what position I start from, if it doesn’t feel right, it doesn’t feel right.”
That good feeling has been missing at Verstappen for two days. “I was struggling all qualifying. All weekend, actually, because we had understeer at first and then after we tried to correct that we got oversteer, so it was never really good. I struggled in Q1, and in Q2. There isn’t much more you can do after you go into qualifying. I just didn’t feel the grip at the apex of the corners, and that’s probably the worst balance you can have in a car,” said the two-time champion.
Verstappen had to contend with an unpredictable car
Red Bull Racing introduced major upgrades just this weekend, which were immediately visible on detailed photos after a crash by Sergio Pérez in the first free practice. For Verstappen it is therefore an extra blow that it did not go well with his upgraded RB19. “I tried to correct it in Q3, but you can’t do that much anymore. It felt like I was riding on ice. In my second Q3 lap, the first sector was not good again. The car was very inconsistent throughout qualifying, it was a bit hit and miss. Given the upgrades we brought in this weekend, this is extremely disappointing.”
It must have been exciting for the neutral viewer, since Hamilton, Verstappen and Lando Norris in particular were very evenly matched. The entire session was characterized by minor differences. “I’m just not happy with how qualifying went, given the balance I had. That has nothing to do with the other teams, but I do think this qualifying was very exciting, because every session you really didn’t know who would be the fastest. That’s good, of course.’
According to Verstappen, his balance problems had nothing to do with the fact that he could drive less in free practice because of the tire shortage. ‘I do not think so. We tried some different things, but in the end we didn’t do the right thing, I think. That sometimes happens. I think we did really well in all qualifying this year. I was actually always quite happy with that, but sometimes it just goes that way. You can’t always be perfect, I know that, but I try to strive for perfection as much as possible’, the Limburger shares. “We were just a little short on one lap today. Tomorrow it will be even warmer, although that’s probably not so bad given the balance I had today.’
Read the article on the mobile website
Not inside
2023-07-22 19:56:00
#Verstappen #terrible #dont #care #start #Maximum
