Max Verstappen has praised Red Bull for his “miracle” turnaround between finishing eighth in Saturday’s Qatar sprint race and securing pole position for Sunday’s grand prix.
The newly crowned four-time world champion beat George Russell to the fastest time in qualifying by 0.055 seconds, securing his first pole position for a grand prix since the Austrian Grand Prix in July.
He said he worked with his team, including those at Red Bull’s factory in Milton Keynes, to make adjustments to the car’s setup and fight for pole position.
“I mean, it couldn’t have been worse [than the sprint race],” Verstappen said. “So we just looked at it. And I mean, it’s not all super clear, but we’re like, well, we have to go and try this direction. We put it on the car and it worked.
“And of course, you know, a lot of people back at the factory analysing a lot of stuff already throughout the whole weekend.
“But at the end of the day, you have to make the decisions also on track if you want to do it or not. We have the simulator is running in the background as well. And yeah, a miracle happened.”
Verstappen said his car felt more “connected” in the high-speed corners of the Lusail circuit, allowing him to extract small amounts of performance from each corner to add up to a bigger gain.
“I felt confident in the car, so I was pushing it. And honestly, the whole lap was a hundredth here and then two-hundredths and then the last corner a little bit.
“It was not a lot compared to the previous lap, but it just everywhere a little bit better. Of course, that’s a little bit less fuel in the car because I only did one run. That helps.
“So yeah, it was all pretty close, but it felt just a lot more connected for me. And yeah, that was definitely necessary.
“And then you can attack the corners a bit more. And that gave us pole position.”
