Verstappen pleased with 'perfect' qualifying
- Published on 16 Mar 2019 12:21
-
- By: Fergal Walsh
Max Verstappen has hailed a "perfect" qualifying session after a tough run-up in practice.
Verstappen suffered from set-up issues throughout the practice sessions, and his Red Bull was forced to undergo a chassis change overnight on Friday due to a problem with the fuel tank.
The Dutchman split the two Ferraris in qualifying, slotting ahead of Charles Leclerc for fourth place. Verstappen says that he wasn't able to achieve any more from his fastest Q3 lap, which puts him in the fight for Sunday's race.
"In qualifying, I would say it was quite a perfect session in terms of what we could do with performance and in terms of what we have,” Verstappen said. “The whole run-up to it wasn’t perfect.
“We all know that it is a quite strong track for them [Mercedes] and they have been really quick, while we have been playing a lot with the setup to try something different. Some worked, some didn’t obviously in the morning. But I am very happy with fourth in qualifying.”
Verstappen is remaining cautious when it comes to conclusions over Red Bull's pace, as it enters the season with Honda as its power unit supplier.
"We will find out tomorrow exactly how competitive we are but it seems very smooth,” he said. “We are working really well together so I really have nothing to complain to them about.
“They are working really hard and really focused so we had no issues which is great. It gives you a really positive feeling and enjoyment as well while driving.”
2
Replies (4)
Login to replyboudy
Posts: 1,168
Looks very similar to last year. There doesn't seem to be that much of an performance differential between an Renault powered RBR and Honda RBR at the moment. Whats good is that VER seem very happy with the progress that Honda is making.
According to some sources the RBR looks to be the kindest on their tyres when running race simulations. I have heard a couple of references about the stiffness of the Mercedes car which might lead them to relative more tyre wear. I don't think tomorrow race will be a foregone conclusion.
Staying out longer might lead into pitting under an VSC since there are so many rookie and it being the first race.
Ram Samartha
Posts: 1,172
Yeah, I agree the starting grid doesn't mean a foregone conclusion but it might just come down to turn 1 or the pit stops.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
I read a piece from a Japanese magazine which detailed Honda's experiences moving from 2017 to 2018, the challenges with moving from one works team to another, what went wrong for them earlier (most of that we know, while we lacked confirmation of how some of that was solved), and how they would try to learn from that further moving into 2019. It was really interesting that they more or less gained HP just by being with STR due to them having better intercoolers than McL, while McL's gearbox lead to more efficient ERS-harvesting due to the ways the gears was set up.
ajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
Gasly has been dreadful. And yes, I totally expected it. No this extreme, but I stand by my prediction that Red Bull will be Gasly's last team in F1