Max Verstappen has credited the seismic margin he held over the competition in qualifying at the Austrian Grand Prix to set-up tweaks on his Red Bull Formula 1 car.
Verstappen capitalised on Red Bull’s dominance continuing earlier this term to match the all-time consecutive poles record with seven straight from Bahrain to Imola.
However, the Dutchman had been edged under one-lap conditions at the previous three rounds going into the Red Bull Ring as rival squads eradicated Red Bull’s gap.
But while three-tenths covered second through to seventh on the board, Verstappen stormed to top spot in Q3 with a 0.414s advantage over McLaren’s Lando Norris.
Verstappen, who has now logged seven successive poles at the Red Bull Ring since 2021, revelled in his RB20 car being back to feeling hooked up under a single lap.
“I think the whole session, it went really well,” Verstappen recalled. “The car was in a better window. I could push a bit more, rely on the grip of the car, the balance.
“So it was very enjoyable. Yeah, just trying to progress through Q1 without using a new set and that worked.
“And then from there onwards, yeah, we just tried to fine-tune the balance here and there a little bit. But yeah, every lap that I did was feeling good.
“And then it’s all about, of course, trying to just, yeah, nail every corner. It’s been a while, you know, that I felt like this in the car and also looking at the gap.
“You know, last few races always be very close in front or behind. So this was definitely very positive, I think, for the team.”
Verstappen has expressed that he was optimistic heading into the Q3 shootout that a mistake-free run would guarantee him a good chance at beating the opposition.
“I felt confident,” he disclosed. “I knew that if I did a solid lap, it was going to be good enough for pole and that’s what I did today. And that’s what matters.
“You know, we definitely worked hard as a team to try and be more competitive compared to the last few rounds and it seems to work.
“So I’m definitely happy with that, I guess. You know, of course, you always try to nail laps in qualifying. Some are a bit better than others.
“This one was for sure very good. I’m probably never going to say it’s a perfect lap, but it was it was a good lap.”
Asked whether he was shocked with the margin to the rest, Verstappen replied: “Of course, it’s a short, a short lap. And the gap was quite big.
“But at the other end, I also felt really good with the car and the balance was there, so then you can really push and attack the corners. I guess that made it such a gap.”
Expectations going into the all-important session were that there would be a close battle at the top as Verstappen was 0.093s quicker than Norris in Sprint Qualifying.
However, the three-time F1 champion looked unbeatable once Q2 unravelled, and he has revealed how alterations to his car provided him with the balance he desired.
“Yeah, just a more stable balance, a bit more connected front to rear and that worked out well, yeah,” he divulged. “I think we made the right changes.
“And then you can see that it’s little things that sometimes can actually make quite a bit of a difference in lap time.
“So I’m, of course, very happy with that because, like I said before, you know, we haven’t had the easiest of runs.
“And I think pure pace, you know, has been a bit harder for us to compare to the last two years. So this is definitely very positive for everyone.”
Verstappen managed to overcome the threat from McLaren to prevail in the earlier Sprint race and he now fancies his chances at making it a double win tomorrow.
“Yeah, that’s, of course, something that I hope is going to be good as well,” he said regarding his improved balance. “But I will find out tomorrow.
“I felt like, yeah, the car just improved a bit balance-wise, which hopefully will help the tyres tomorrow as well, because it’s still going to be a hot and long race.
“So you really have to look after the tyres and that’s what we’ll try to do.”
