The Dutchman from Red Bull could not keep up with the pace of Leclerc's Ferrari in qualifying, but did not let his guard down and kept his hopes up for a better race at Paul Ricard on Sunday
Max Verstappen tried hard, but could not overcome Charles Leclerc in qualifying on Saturday (23) in Paul Ricard. The 1min31s176 time of the reigning world champion was far from approaching the Ferrari's Monegasque and will start in second position.
At the end of practice, the Dutchman could not hide his dissatisfaction with the RB18's performance on the French circuit, different from what was seen in TL3, when he finished ahead of his rivals. "We couldn't repeat the performance, we lacked grip in this qualifying."
Max also spoke about not expecting such a stark difference between him and Leclerc's Ferrari for qualifying, but pointed out that what will really count is the race.
"It was a bit trickier than I expected but overall we still have a decent race car and hopefully that will show up in our favor," Verstappen said.
The Red Bull driver expects a closely contested race with the Italian rivals and the high temperatures in France, a factor much cited by all drivers during this weekend, will be on equal footing for everyone.
"We are faster on the straights, so hopefully we can draw on that for tomorrow. It will be hot and they [Ferrari] were very fast," added the Dutchman.
GRANDE PRÊMIO follows LIVE and INREAL TIME all the activities of the French GP weekend. The race takes place this Sunday (24th), at 10:00 am (GMT-3).