Verstappen reveals how Red Bull turned its fortunes around after tough weekend in Bahrain

On the back of his sensational pole position in yesterday's qualifying at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, reigning champion Max Verstappen has revealed the key factors that helped his RB21 display an improved form at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.

Following a tough Bahrain Grand Prix, Red Bull have turned their weekend around in style. Max Verstappen already showed signs of competitiveness across the Friday practice sessions, confirming that the high-speed corners of the Jeddah Corniche Circuit suit his RB21 much more than the traction-dominated Sakhir track.

The reigning champion was right in the mix all through Qualifying, and he started more and more comfortable in his RB as the track surface constantly cooled down. The Dutchman went for two runs after the Q3 red flag, and it proved a masterstroke, his second lap was good enough to take his 46th career pole position.

His team mate Yuki Tsunoda was impressive through the first two qualifying segments, but he could not put it together in the final qualifying session, and the Japanese ended up ninth on the grid.

Asked how he felt in his RB21, Verstappen said:"Good enough, clearly. I felt immediately more confident when I headed into qualifying. We made some minor changes to the car, but they were clearly big enough to feel, and I think that's a bit the story of our car. It can be really hit and miss.

"When we get it right, I think it's competitive, of course. But, yeah, when we don't get it right, it's a lot more difficult. But all of qualifying went well. Around here, I think it's always important to have quite a bit of rhythm. So, naturally, you do quite a lot of laps. Also, the tyres, luckily, they hold on to do that.

"Of course, then the red flag in Q3 is not ideal, but everyone has to deal with that. So we opted for that two-lap strategy, and I'm happy that we did that. Just kept me on top of things, and it felt good.

Pushed on to compare his lap with his pole position lap in Suzuka, the reigning champion said: "I think at the end of the day, you just need to try and have a clean lap, try to be on the limit. But around here, honestly, it's super hard because some corners, like, you want to try and be super close to the wall.

"Sometimes it works out. Sometimes it doesn't. Braking into 22 is very bumpy, so you don't even see where you're going when you turn in. So it's very hard to get everything right. But, yeah, clearly, it was good enough. And, yeah, of course, in Q3, you risk everything a bit more."

Comparing the behaviour of his car in Saudi Arabia with how the RB21 performed a week ago in Bahrain, Verstappen has revealed that the tarmac and the high-speed nature of the Jeddah track might have contributed to his team's improved competitiveness.

"Few more high-speed corners. The tarmac is completely different, which has a big influence on the tyres as well. Naturally, when you have tracks where you need a lot of rotation mid-corner, and long-duration corners, which you have in Bahrain, that's a big problem for us.

"Here, it just seems to be a little bit more competitive. I'm not saying that it's solved, but at least it gave me an opportunity to push a bit better and deal with the limitations that we have a bit better."

Despite his pole position, Verstappen fears that he will not be able to keep up with the field-leading McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris based on Friday's long run simulation.

"Up until now, not very confident, to be honest. My long runs weren't particularly great compared to Oscar or Lando. I'm going to give it everything I have, for sure. Does it mean that I have enough? I don't know.

"But the car definitely took a bit of a step forward compared to what we were testing yesterday. So I hope that will help our tyre life out as well, but difficult to say that gives an opportunity to fight. But like I said, I'm going to give it a go."