Why Max Verstappen had actually already written off the lap that brought him pole position – he had never experienced conditions like those in Brazil before
His lap actually felt “terrible”, explains Max Verstappen after his pole position in Brazil. The Dutchman secured his eleventh pole of the current season on Friday. However, he was more than half a second slower in Q3 than in Q2.
In the second qualifying segment, the world champion had burned a 1:10.162 into the asphalt, but in Q3 it was only a 1:10.727 – which was still enough for pole position. Because all the other drivers were also significantly slower in Q3 than before.
Verstappen explains: “When we lined up for Q3, you could see that the sky was just black. I thought to myself: ‘Wow, when the rain comes, it’s going to be a lot!’ So the outlap was pretty quick.”
“On the lap, the first sector felt okay, but the rest of the lap was shocking,” reports the world champion and explains: “During the lap, the rain came closer. It didn’t start yet, but the wind picked up and the direction changed to a tailwind in the middle sector.”
“The car just slid around and I shouted on the radio: ‘What the hell has happened? We’re nowhere!’ But the team told me to keep pushing. They said that everyone was having problems,” reveals Verstappen, who had actually already written off his lap.
“No damn grip on this tire, what the hell?” he radioed during his run. However, his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase immediately put things into perspective: “Similar comments from the other drivers, Max. Please keep pushing to the end. “
Verstappen: No attempt on soft before qualifying
The Dutchman did just that, but afterwards he emphasized: “I’d never experienced anything like this before, that [the weather] had such a big influence on the balance of the car.” Although it wasn’t raining yet, Verstappen had the feeling that he had no grip.
It was “pretty hectic” at the end due to the threat of rain, he emphasizes and explains: “The gaps between everyone were very, very close. In Q1 and Q2, everyone was using a lot of tire sets. I think that made it quite interesting.”
“I think it’s also because we only had one practice session,” he says with regard to the sprint format this weekend and explains: “For example, I didn’t have a lap on the soft tires. That’s why you still have a bit of leeway when it comes to lap times in Q1. “
However, even his 1:10.436 from Q1 was still almost three tenths faster than his pole lap later in Q3. “It was just extremely close. If you don’t get a good lap, then you’re out. That’s why some people used two or even three sets [in Q1],” he explains.
“That continued throughout qualifying. There was a threat of rain the whole time, but I think in Q1 and Q2 it was pretty clear that it wasn’t going to happen yet. But because of the pace of everyone else, you still had to put on new tires,” said Verstappen.
He also struggled with the bumps at Interlagos on Friday. “It was a bit difficult on the bumps. I don’t know the reason, because we didn’t really touch the car [after FP1]. So we need to understand that,” he muses.
Better starting position than a year ago
“My car is bouncing like a kangaroo. The same problem as in Mexico,” he radioed at one point during qualifying. “But we tried to get around it,” he reports, adding: “Nobody really knew who would have been in front in a normal Q3 without the weather.”
Because it is clear that pole would not have been a foregone conclusion for Verstappen and Red Bull. Helmut Marko explained on Sky before qualifying that “the others had come closer”. However, there were good reasons for this, according to the Austrian.
Because Red Bull had “naturally already focused on next year’s car”, which is why the other teams had come closer and closer in recent weeks. “We are still in front, but […] it has become tighter,” said Marko.
This was confirmed again in qualifying. The conditions have now “made it pretty interesting for Sunday as well”, emphasized Verstappen, who has only won once in Brazil so far. His last Red Bull victory to date came in Sao Paulo in 2019.
He doesn’t have good memories of 2022 in particular, but it was “a bit better this year”, he explains. A year ago, he “only” finished qualifying in P2, the sprint in P4 and the race in P6.
