I’m already very happy with where we are, says Verstappen after Qualifying

Quoted by the official Formula 1 website, Verstappen explained what Red Bull had done with the car over the five weeks break: “For me it’s been two things. For sure, the car has not been great in the previous races, but also from my side I’ve never felt comfortable with the layout of the car.” He also added that the team has been pushing flat out to try and bring upgrades to the car, which made him feel more comfortable with a lot of things in the car.

“It really pays off. I feel more in control of the car again, then I can push a bit more, then the upgrades are working. To be on the front row is way better than I expected heading into the weekend.” Verstappen commented.

He was also asked about the weather forecast and that it might be raining during the race: “We’ll try to have a look at that, for sure, and see what the weather will do tomorrow, but I’m already very happy with where we are. From here there’s like light at the end of the tunnel, and we can just push on and try to close the gap further.”

The Red Bull driver also spoke about how confident he feels about the car’s race pace: “It looked alright in the Sprint, once I was in clean air. Of course, tomorrow is a completely different day.” He concluded that he will try to focus on a good start as he haven’t had a lot of them this year.

Verstappen finished Saturday’s Sprint on P5, the same position he started in, but he found more pace in Qualifying and missed pole by 0.166 seconds to Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli.