Max Verstappen had a tough qualifying session for the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, filled with promise and frustration. Despite struggling with understeer throughout practice, the reigning World Champion surged to provisional pole in Q3 with a 1:22.945s, showcasing remarkable control despite a near slide at the final corner.
However, Lando Norris quickly reclaimed the top spot with a blistering lap, leading a McLaren front-row lockout alongside teammate Oscar Piastri. The Red Bull driver, on the other hand, unable to improve on his initial time, was shuffled down to fifth as Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Haas’s Nico Hülkenberg delivered impressive performances to outpace him.
However, the German was handed a three-place grid penalty for overtaking at the pit exit, which promoted Verstappen to fourth on the starting grid.
Max Verstappen reflects on qualifying struggles
After qualifying, Max Verstappen admitted that his car never quite hit the sweet spot during the weekend.
“I think the whole weekend we’ve never found that sweet spot, unfortunately,” he said. “Maybe we looked quite okay in Q1 and Q2, but most of the time people were aborting their laps on new tyres.”
The Dutchman elaborated on the challenges, pointing to a lack of consistency in the car’s handling:
“In Q3, it was okay, but just not how I liked it. The car was never really planted, always a bit difficult in some corners. And that made it very hard to be consistent. It just happened in many different corners. You try to adjust one or two, and then something else happens in another corner, which makes it difficult.”
“The front end was stronger now, so that was a bit more positive. But it’s the balance shift that we get throughout the corner, which in some tracks is a bit more limiting than in others. I should have been on the front row, but it’s still not bad. I know that if we fix our problems, we will pick up a lot of lap time.”
Verstappen’s outlook
Looking ahead to race day, Max Verstappen remains hopeful but realistic about his chances:
“If we can fix that, I’m confident that we have a good race coming. We know that we are good in the medium to very high speed.”
However, he tempered expectations of challenging McLaren for victory. Instead, his focus will likely shift to racing Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and managing the battles delivering in the second row.
“I still think that McLaren is too quick. To really fight them, I think, would be quite unlikely.”
“I hope that I can race maybe with Ferrari, Carlos especially, and with Charles starting in the back. Of course, there’s also a spicy battle next to me for P6. Let’s see how that will go in lap one.”
