"A frustrating result," reckons Horner after Verstappen's suboptimal qualifying in Abu Dhabi
Assessing his team's result in qualifying, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner explained that while the outcome has been frustrating, the Yas Marina Circuit offers several overtaking opportunities.
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.
Assessing his team's result in qualifying, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner explained that while the outcome has been frustrating, the Yas Marina Circuit offers several overtaking opportunities.
"Q2 was strong but unfortunately the Q3 was less so. The first run was looking reasonable and Max had a big moment which he was able to save in the last corner. It was quite a slide. He was really going for it.
"Then on the last run, the car never really came alive and at no point did he look quicker in the lap. Frustrating to be 5th but it’s a track he can overtake at and no doubt he will be quick out of the gate.
"Checo to Q3 was great to see. It will be a fantastic opportunity to get a result for him tomorrow. Strategy and tyre wear will be crucial so let’s see what happens in the race," added Horner.
