Verstappen explains that Red Bull has been struggling with the balance in Abu Dhabi
Having qualified only P5 on the grid, the newly-crowned four-time F1 world champion Max Verstappen has revealed that his team has been struggling with the balance of his RB20 so far in Abu Dhabi.
On the back of his sensational victory last time out in Qatar, Max Verstappen has struggled to match the pace of the McLaren drivers in the practice sessions at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
However, the Dutch driver appeared to be on the pace once the lights went green in qualifying, displaying encouraging pace in the opening two segments, with his pace allowing him to save a set of fresh soft tyres both in Q1 and Q2.
The now four-time F1 champion then delivered a fantastic lap on his first attempt in Q3 until he almost lost control of the back of his RB20 at the exit of the last corner. However, he still managed to lead the way with that mistake after the first run of flying laps.
Verstappen was then unable to improve his time on his last flying lap, and with his rivals having found gains, he dropped down to P5 on the grid, albeit a three-place grid penalty for Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg will see him move up the grid to start from P4 in the season finale.
"I don’t think our pace has been too bad today and it was a shame as we should have finished on the front row. For sure we could have done better and we would have liked to have had a better qualifying but it was a bit too difficult to get the car together and be consistent with it.
"Ultimately, it’s been difficult this weekend to get the balance of the car right and we would have like to have had a better qualifying. Q1 and Q2 weren’t bad but on in Q3 on my final lap on the last corner we messed up and this mistake cost us P2 unfortunately.
"The result is not bad considering the issues we were facing, but it has been quite up and down this weekend. The McLarens and Ferraris were looking quite quick and I hope I can do some overtaking tomorrow and try and make up some positions. I hope that we can have a good race and fight for a podium; that would be a good end to the season," concluded Verstappen.
