Verstappen rues yellow flag that cost a chance to take pole in Austin
Reigning world champion Max Verstappen rued the yellow flag brought up by George Russell at the end of qualifying which could have potentially cost him a shot at pole position for today's Austin F1 race.
Having set the benchmark in sprint qualifying, Verstappen made a good getaway from pole and led from lights to flag for his first victory of any kind since June.
The Dutch driver then looked very strong in the main qualifying session, but he was beaten by his championship rival Lando Norris after the first laps in the all-important Q3. Although he was on course to beat the Briton on his final flying lap, a yellow-flag brought out by the Mercedes of George Russell meant that he was unable to complete his lap.
Reflecting on his qualifying session, the three-time world champion noted: "It was unfortunate not to be able to finish the final lap in Q3. During my first lap I made a mistake at turn 19 and on my second lap, we were purple in the first sector but unfortunately there was a yellow flag.
"This happens sometimes in racing and you can’t control these things. I was still really happy with our performance and we were really there to fight for pole which was very positive! We brought upgrades to the car this week which has made it faster and better to drive so hopefully this all works for tomorrow. We have been strong in the weekend so far and it was great to win the Sprint race.
"We learnt a lot from this and if we can replicate what we did in the Sprint I will be very confident for tomorrow. There are small gaps between teams so I expect that it will be very competitive and I need a good result tomorrow. The most important thing is that we are competitive again and the car is feeling better and hopefully we will be able to fight for the win tomorrow."
His team-mate Sergio Perez looked more comfortable in his RB20 than in the sprint qualifying session, but he was still unable to challenge for top position.
“We were lacking a bit of pace in the Sprint, so we will review things to see where we can improve for the race tomorrow. We made some changes to the car ahead of qualifying to improve the balance and it felt in a lot better window.
"We found a lot of pace and rhythm, and everything was going in the right direction. I went P5 in Q2 and things were coming back to us, but it was just then very unfortunate. We saved the new tyre until the end of Q3 and with the yellow flag we were not able to get the lap in, it had looked so promising, so it was a real shame.
"It is going to be a tricky one tomorrow with all the traffic ahead but if I am able to move quickly through, I think we should be able to fight the cars ahead early enough to do something."
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner was left delighted after Red Bull claimed the first win since the Spanish Grand Prix that took place back in June.
"The Sprint was a good up lift for the Team, our first win since June. Max managed the race beautifully, he just went out and did his thing. Max rode that wave into qualifying and we were quick today.
Reflecting on the main qualifying session, the Briton rued the yellow-flag conditions that deprived Verstappen of beating his championship rival Lando Norris and challenging for pole position for today's Texan F1 race.
"It wasn’t his cleanest lap on the first run in Q3 but the second lap was up, much better and I think he would have been away and got the job done had the the yellow flag not come. It’s just one of those things, we are still on the front row and hopefully can fight for the win tomorrow. It’s been a positive couple of days so far.
"Checo had a bit of a struggle today, he ran wide at turn eight on his scrub tyre in Q3 and had the lap deleted, which then put all the pressure on the last run on the fresh tyre. Unfortunately he was then further back the in queue when the yellow flag came out and wasn’t able to post a time. All in all though it was a great performance today and sets us up well for tomorrow," concluded Horner.
