Max Verstappen ‘surprised’ by sprint race win in Miami
Max Verstappen ‘surprised’ by sprint race win in Miami
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen says he was surprised that he pulled off a pole position run in sprint race qualifying for the Miami Grand Prix.
Verstappen has won four of the five Grand Prix so far this season and will start the sixth from the front of the grid.
Red Bull and Ferrari dominatethe top five of the grid.
Verstappen will start from pole ahead of Charles Leclerc in a Ferrari with teammate Sergio Perez behind him in P3.
Daniel Ricciardo put in a great effort to take fourth spot on the grind in his RB Honda ahead of the second Ferrari.
Max Verstappen ‘surprised’ by sprint race win
Verstappen was concerned that the soft compound of tires wasn’t working well for his Red Bull.
“The practice session was really nice and I felt really confident and comfortable with the car,” Verstappen said in quotes provided to The South African.
“Honestly, I am quite surprised that we got P1 for the Sprint qualifying; it felt a bit different as I couldn’t really push or feel too confident on the tyres and get a nice balance on the car.
“On a track surface like this, it means that if you are a little bit out with the tyres it makes a big difference, but I think everyone else particularly struggled with the final run on the soft tyres. We have a few things to analyse and question why it felt a bit different from qualifying, but we should get it together fine for tomorrow. All in all, we have a great starting position for the Sprint and hopefully we can maximise this. Once the tyres stablilise, we should be back on track.”
Sergio Perez gets third
Perez had a more difficult sprint race and will start in Verstappen’s dirty air.
“It was a tricky session, we had one shot on that soft compound but we just didn’t maximise it and we got caught out a little bit with the grip, it changed here and there,” Perez said.
“Given that we only had a single go on that soft tyre it is down to a bit of luck about what the car is going to do. It is very challenging to go from just one practice into that session but it’s the same for everyone. I think the McLarens were the fastest cars out there, but they just couldn’t work it out on the soft compound. We have some work to do there and hopefully by tomorrow we can work it out. The aim will be to get as many points as possible in the Sprint and then we will go from there into the race. I think we are heading in the right direction and hopefully we can see a stronger race pace.”