Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen was still fighting in the race with his company’s car, and a few hours later he set the fastest lap in qualifying for the Qatar GP. Team boss Christian Horner explains how he achieved this.
It was clear that Max Verstappen wasn’t too happy with his company’s car before qualifying for the Qatar GP from the Dutchman’s comments. The Red Bull Racing star raged over the radio during the sprint: “To say the car is overdriving would be an understatement!” And after the race of 19 laps he reported: “I was unbalanced, it was very difficult.”
The team took the opportunity after a short race to make a car change. Success: Verstappen reported at the start of the session that his car now felt better. And he thanked him for that with his first GP pole since Austria.
Not only the four-time champion himself was happy with this, but also his whole team and especially the team boss Christian Horner, who was delighted: “What a change! The engineers and the team in Milton Keynes worked hard and got a good set-up of the car.
“Max felt it immediately, his first impression on the radio was that he felt good, and then he gave his strong performance in an amazing way,” Brit said happily, revealing: “We have everything changed a lot. It was changed in the car, and you will never know if it will work in the end. But it did,” Horner explained.
“Max also gave good results once again after struggling a lot yesterday, especially in the first, second and seventh corners. And he did them all very well,” praised the team boss.
GP-Graduation, Qatar
01. Max Verstappen (NL), Red Bull Racing, 1:20,520 minutes
02. George Russell (GB), Mercedes, 1:20,575
03. Lando Norris (GB), McLaren, 1:20.772
04. Oscar Piastri (AUS), McLaren, 1:20.829
05. Charles Leclerc (MC), Ferrari, 1:20,852
06. Lewis Hamilton (GB), Mercedes, 1:21,011
07. Carlos Sainz (L), Ferrari, 1:21.041
08. Fernando Alonso (E), Aston Martin, 1:21.251
09. Sergio Pérez (MEX), Red Bull Racing, 1:21,425
10. Kevin Magnussen (DK), Haas, 1:21.500
11. Pierre Gasly (F), Alpine, 1:21,437
12. Guanyu Zhou (RCH), Sauber, 1:21,501
13. Valtteri Bottas (FIN), Sauber, 1:21.731
14. Yuki Tsunoda (J), Racing Bulls, 1:21,771
15. Lance Stroll (CDN), Aston Martin, 1:21,911
16. Alex Albon (T), Williams, 1:22,390
17. Liam Lawson (NZ), Racing Bulls, 1:22,411
18. Nico Hulkenberg (D), Haas, 1:22.442
19. Franco Colapinto (RA), Williams, 1:22.594
20. Stephen Ocon (F), Alpine, 1:22.714
