Max Verstappen revealed his push on the third sector of his final flying lap was key for him to achieve pole position in qualifying in Austria on Friday.
Verstappen seemed to be in the zone from the minute he took to the Red Bull Ring in his RB18 on Friday in Spielberg, and he went on to secure pole position in a session that was interrupted twice when things were getting heated up in Q3, as the both Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell binned their Silver Arrows.
His margin over Charles Leclerc in second was only 0.029s, but the Dutchman is happy to be close to a Ferrari in qualifying, an area the Red Car has excelled in so far this season.
"We can definitely be happy with the result today," Verstappen said in Red Bull's media brief post qualifying on Friday afternoon.
"On the final lap in Q3, turn one and three weren't the best so I knew the rest of the lap needed to be spot on," he admitted. "I was down on the first and second sector so pushed hard in the final and it paid off.
"It was a good session and of course it's good to be close to the Ferraris again. This season so far, the car has been good in the race compared to qualifying where we've been weaker, so hopefully tomorrow we can be competitive in the sprint," the reigning Formula 1 Champion added.
On the other side of the Red Bull garage, Sergio Perez struggled to get on top of his car's setup and handling, and ended qualifying fourth fastest, over four tenths slower than his teammate, but was later relegated to 13th as his lap was deleted for violating track limits.
Perez: A tricky day
The Mexican said: "It was a tricky day, going into qualifying from FP1 things didn't feel great so there is a bit of understanding needed from our side and hopefully tomorrow we are able to recover.
"The car was in and out for me during the day and during quali, I wasn't able to get into the rhythm. It is disappointing to lose fourth place, the track limits are very tight here this season, but it is frustrating that the Team weren't told my lap time had been deleted during Q2.
"We have the Sprint tomorrow to make up ground and a long race ahead, we have to keep our head down and push hard to make progress and put us in a good position for Sunday," he concluded.
Red Bull boss Christian Horner reflected on his team's qualifying saying: "To get pole today was a great result for Max, he was just a little bit quicker in the last turn and that made the difference; to have three cars within one tenth of a second is incredible.
"Ferrari are looking very strong right now, we saw that after their win at Silverstone and right across the season, so to get the pole today was extremely valuable," he added.
"It's great to be back in Austria, the Team love racing here and the support we get is incredible, passion is great but shouldn't spill over into jeers at our opponents.
"We feel the penalty for Checo was very harsh and should have been dealt with before Q3 to enable us to improve subsequent performance.
"He will do his best tomorrow from P13 and try and put us into a better position for Sunday's race," the Briton concluded.
Latest News
Loading
