Max Verstappen’s team radio after he secured pole position for the Miami Grand Prix sprint summed up his season.
After a tricky SQ1 and SQ2, Dutchman Verstappen managed to put his Red Bull on pole after clocking a time of 1:27.641.
The reigning Formula 1 champion beat Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc by 0.108 seconds.
Advert
However, he didn’t exactly expect the outcome.
He said on his team radio: “LOL. What happened to the others? This was terrible. I mean I will take it!”
Verstappen’s dominance is so great that even when he felt terrible in the car, he still managed to put it on pole.
Speaking to Sky Sports after the session, Verstappen said: “It felt really terrible. Maybe that last session was just incredibly difficult to get the tyres to work. Already in SQ2 I didn't feel great. SQ3, it just felt quite similar for me.
“I didn't really improve on the soft. Somehow we were first. Of course, I happily take it. But it didn't feel enjoyable out there to drive for whatever reason because in practice it felt really, really nice, I was very comfortable and confident, qualifying, not so much.”
He added: “It might be the track layout a little bit. I thought after practice, I was quite confident we could fight for pole, then in qualifying it didn't really look like that for me.
“But somehow we ended up in first. I don't know what happened to the other cars on that last lap.”
Reacting to Verstappen’s radio, former F1 champion Jenson Button said: “It sounded like he didn't want to be on pole! It wasn't the prettiest lap. Through the chicane, the car bounced off the kerbs but it's obviously tricky conditions out there.”
Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton had an afternoon to forget after he qualified only 12th for the sprint.
Topics: Max Verstappen, Formula 1, Red Bull Racing
Marcus Chan