Max Verstappen flew through Austria in qualifying on Friday (8) for the sprint race and said Red Bull has a great car for the weekend
Max Verstappen didn't give his opponents a chance, and made his favoritism count in front of his huge crowd in qualifying on Friday (8), in Austria, and will start from pole position in the sprint race. The Dutchman flew in the final moments and clocked 1min04s984, beating rival Charles Leclerc by only 0s029. "Not bad," according to the driver's own words still in the car.
Q3 of the session was marked by the accidents of the two Mercedes cars, first Lewis Hamilton and then George Russell. The drivers had just under 3 minutes at the end to look for better comebacks, and Verstappen feared that the interruption would hurt the pace of his RB18.
"It was a long wait between the two laps," Verstappen said after the session referring to the time between the first attempt, right at the start of Q3, and the last one the Dutchman had moments before the timer reset. "That's never good. Once you're on the pace, you want to keep going," he pointed out.
"The track temperature dropped and the wind also changed a bit. It was a close qualifying at the end, this track is very challenging. There aren't that many corners, but the ones you have are quite tricky and prone to mistakes," continued the Dutchman, who stressed the importance of sprint racing to score good points in qualifying.
"I think we have a great car. Normally qualifying is not our strongest point, so I hope to make a clean first corner and go well from there. Anything can happen, but I'm confident in the car we have," added the #1.
Finally, Verstappen celebrated the support of the fans, who once again turned the Red Bull Ring into a sea of orange. "It's amazing to see the support we've had here for a few years now. It makes me smile, and I hope to have a great weekend," he concluded.