Max Verstappen Disappointed After Opening Day At Silverstone
Max Verstappen was disappointed to qualify in second place for the inaugural F1 Sprint Qualifying Race, having battled with the setup of his car in the first session since dominating in Austria two weeks ago.
Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez will start from fifth place after being narrowly beaten into a second row start by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
Disappointment For Max Verstappen
Championship leader Max Verstappen will start the F1 Sprint Qualifying Race from the front row, but felt he could have had more, and was left feeling disappointed with second.
“Of course I am disappointed because I wanted to start first tomorrow but we have the sprint qualifying race to decide the main grid and then Sunday as well so we will try and get them back. Overall, the car was handling quite well but we just had a lot of understeer and I couldn’t really attack the corners as I was waiting for the front to grip up. It was a bit of a weird feeling to drive and I don’t think it was set-up or front wing related, so maybe front tyres, but we will look at it and it’s nothing dramatic. To be this close is still very good for us on a track we expected Mercedes to be very strong and we know we have a good race car so I’m still confident for the rest of the weekend,” said Verstappen.
Sergio Perez Has Best Lap Time Deleted
After running wide on Turn 15 of his best lap, Sergio Perez had his time deleted, and has to settle for a fifth-place start in the sprint race tomorrow.
“I ran wide into Turn 15 and my best lap time was deleted which is a bit of a shame but those are the rules and luckily I only lost one place. P4 would have been a bit better but we have the sprint race to make it further up the grid for Sunday so still there is plenty to play for. We improved the car a lot as the day went on but I found a bit of a difference in the balance at the end of Q3 and couldn’t get the most out of the car. I’m looking forward to tomorrow as it will be interesting to see what happens with the new sprint format and how much progress we are able to make in that race,” added Perez.