Verstappen thought Ferrari would be ‘miles ahead’

Mark Scott
Max Verstappen drive at the Spanish Grand Prix was "remarkable" says Christian Horner.

Max Verstappen drive at the Spanish Grand Prix was "remarkable" says Christian Horner.

Max Verstappen was left chewing over a “weird” qualifying session, a session in which he thought Ferrari would be “miles ahead”.

Ferrari had set the pace all weekend prior to qualifying taking place, but it all began to unravel when Charles Leclerc crashed out of Q2 and Sebastian Vettel could not find the pace to match Mercedes.

Verstappen, in P4, will join Vettel on the second row of the grid after finishing two tenths behind the German, something he was not expecting to happen.

“Yeah it’s been bit weird,” Verstappen told Sky Sports F1. “I thought Ferrari were going to be miles ahead in qualifying, but they weren’t.

“So it’s going to be very interesting tomorrow I think.”

Verstappen played Q3 slightly differently to the others, staying out for two hot laps rather than splitting between the start and end of the Q3 session.

It left him annoyed because that tactic ensured he would receive any of the potential benefits from a tow down the long straight.

“I did not have any new tyres left, so that was it for me,” Verstappen explained when asked why he was not out on track for the very closing stages of Q3.

“The lap itself was good, but it was a shame that we did not have any slipstream, while the rest gave each other a slipstream.

“I lost two and a half tenths in the last sector.

“When you are driving in a row you win a tenth on each straight because the cars have so much downforce. We could have achieved more if we were part of this, but we were not.”

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