The reigning Formula 1 world champion had provisionally secured pole after the first attempt in qualifying Q3, but an error in the section of turns 5 and 6, along with the improvement of the Ferrari duo, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, made him fall to third place.
The Monegasque and world leader took the first position, while the Spaniard was second, and Verstappen admitted that he did not expect to be within reach of pole due to the time he missed on Friday due to mechanical problems in his RB18 , specifically with the hydraulic system.
After running just one lap, the Dutchman had to catch up in the third practice session with a long-run programme, and believes that Red Bull needs to avoid mechanical problems in the future, having charged heavily at the start of the season. , which caused their abandonment in Bahrain and Australia.
“In general, I am quite satisfied with qualifying, I did four or five laps yesterday,” said the world champion. “So the whole day I was trying to learn the circuit, trying to find the balance in the car.
“Being competitive in qualifying was something that surprised me a bit, because it’s an easy track to learn. You want to be on pole position, but where we came from, I think we’ve done a good job,” he explained.
“We have to start making the weekends less difficult because that way you always know it’s going to be difficult, but we have a good chance on Sunday,” said the Red Bull driver.
“We have good top speed, I think the car is behaving quite well, so I’m looking forward to [the race],” continued Verstappen, who believes he will have options to attack the two Ferraris.
The Dutchman will take third place, and remains optimistic about the available strategy as well as about overtaking on this new circuit, which is unknown in race conditions.
“It’s quite slippery off the track, but we’ll see. A lot can happen tomorrow, and I think it will be hotter than today, so it also depends a bit on how the tires behave,” concluded the defending champion.
