In both free practice on Saturday and the opening rounds of qualifying, Verstappen seemed to have worse pace than his title rival Hamilton at the Yas Marina circuit.
However, a titanic lap in Q3, in which he had the slipstream of his teammate Sergio Pérez, gave him pole position leaving Lewis Hamilton half a second behind.
Hamilton then improved on his second attempt, but was more than three tenths behind, and although it seemed that the Mexican’s slipstream had been key, Red Bull estimates that it was only a gain of one tenth.
That was proven when Max Verstappen came close to equaling (without a slipstream) the mini-sector time of that part of the track on his second lap in Q3.
Speaking about the Dutchman’s performance, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner told Sky : “I think it’s one of Max’s best laps of the year.”
“The slipstream…even on the next lap where we decided not to slipstream, it evened up the time, so the slipstream was probably worth a tenth or two, not half a second.”
“I think his last sector, when you see the level of downforce he has, was crazy. It’s absolutely crazy.
Verstappen agreed that the benefit of slipstreaming was much smaller than it seemed at the time.
“It was very good, and it was also very well executed,” reflected the Dutchman. “But I don’t know what the profit was.”
“I mean, he could have gained a tenth towards Turn 9, which is not an enormously long straight. Checo is a great teammate and a real pleasure to work with.”
Horner also praised the way the two Red Bull cars worked together to secure a pole that could prove crucial to the battle for the F1 championship.
“I think Max, he’s given it his all and he’s squeezing his heart out,” he said. “He’s thrown it all into this session.”
“I think Checo has been a dutiful teammate. He sacrificed a good lap to give his teammate that performance. And I think you can’t ask for more than that. So they got pole. Now we have to try and turn that into victory tomorrow.”
