Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen will start Sunday's Mexican Grand Prix from the front row of the grid after being pipped for the coveted pole position in the dying seconds of the session by the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel.
Although satisfied with a front row start, the Dutch driver was a little annoyed with losing out on his first pole position by such a tiny margin. However, that said, you don't get points for pole and the race is what's important.
Therefore he will be doing everything in his power to be first into the first cornerโฆ
"Another front row qualification so I am pretty satisfied with today's result. Q2 was really good but somehow we lost a bit in Q3 with the tyres, I couldn't get them to work and struggled for grip. I would say the Q3 lap was better but I just didn't have the grip from the previous session,โ he said.
โThe plan was to abort the first lap in both sessions and use that as a build lap. At the end of the day we are still second and on the front row so no big issue. It is always nice to get a pole position but winning the race is more important.โ
โI am confident in the race pace of the car and that we can achieve a good result but we still have to show this tomorrow. Starting on the front row with such a long run into Turn 1 means we can hopefully get away well and ahead. We are usually quicker in the race than Qualifying so I am excited for tomorrow."
Max was also investigated after the qualifying session for impeding the Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas, however the stewards stated that no further action was warranted, so he escaped any form of penalty.