Perez is on pole position for Red Bull, while team-mate Max Verstappen is at a loss – The Dutchman despaired with the tyres in Q3
While Sergio Perez secured the first pole position of his Formula One career in qualifying in Saudi Arabia, teammate Max Verstappen only has to settle for fourth place
“Unfortunately, Max never caught the right temperature window and was then never in rhythm,” said Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko to ‘Sky’ after qualifying.
Verstappen himself can’t quite explain his performance, especially in Q3: “Q1 and Q2 went very well, but in Q3 I had no grip at all.” He suspects that the severely cooling track conditions after the long red flag following Mick Schumacher’s accident had a negative effect on the warm-up phase of his tyres.
Slower in parts than in Q1
“When we put the first set of tyres on in Q3, I had no grip at all, even though I prepared the tyres the same way as before. I just don’t understand that,” said the Dutchman, perplexed. It was noticeable that many drivers had to do two warm-up laps before their flying lap to get their tyres up to temperature.
“I did two warm-up laps because that felt the best. That also worked pretty well in Q1 and Q2, but unfortunately not in Q3,” Verstappen explained. “The track has become colder and has evolved, but for me it has become rather slower. “
The Red Bull driver was particularly surprised that he could not even improve on his time from the first qualifying segment “in some corners”. According to Verstappen, the car’s potential was nevertheless good, as could be seen from teammate Perez’s pole position.
Verstappen crossed white line
That’s why he’s not worried for Sunday’s race. “We have good top speed which hopefully we can use for tomorrow,” he says. Marko is not writing Verstappen off just yet either: “That was definitely not a preliminary decision. I think it will be a very close battle between Ferrari and Red Bull.”
In addition, Marko clarifies what incident with Verstappen is currently being investigated by the FIA: “There is a white line and it was agreed that you should not cross it.”
According to Marko, Verstappen crossed it with a tyre during his warm-up lap, but he does not expect a penalty: “There can be no question of any advantage, so I hope that they are not more papal than the pope. “