Having started on the backfoot on Friday, only completing a measly 18 laps over the opening two practice sessions, Max Verstappen came into qualifying day in Mexico underprepared for the task of repeating his previous success around the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.
With the lack of running on the Friday, Verstappen knew the third practice session would be crucial to dialling his car in for qualifying, and despite some difficulty in finding the right balance for his car he was eventually able to set a time come the end of Q3 for a front row start in second position.
He looked more competitive from the start of Q1, but beating title rival Lando Norris to 2nd on the grid was surely a surprise considering the Brit’s pace in the first and second segments.
“Yeah, I mean, yesterday I did, like, four laps, two laps on lower fuel and two laps on high fuel. So it was basically just a complete write-off, no information. So, yeah, for me, FP3 was very crucial.
“Tried to do as many laps as I could and, yeah, we were behind. I mean, the car was not feeling great and everything was just very difficult.
“So I knew that it was going to be a tough qualifying, but we made some final adjustments. It all started to feel better, but to be on the front row, it’s an incredible result for us.”
Verstappen briefly went to the top of the timings in Q3 before his lap time was deleted shortly after for track limits in turn two. The Red Bull driver admitted that the track extension and lack of a banker lap, which meant he sat in 10th place before the last attempts, all contributed to an overall less ambitious approach to his final Q3 lap that saw him finish over 0.2s off Carlos Sainz.
“I think it’s always a very fine line around Turn 2. Yeah, you try to, of course, prepare it as well as you can. And yeah, sometimes you’re just out, sometimes you’re just in. But yeah, for the second run, I was probably a little bit more careful in Turns 2 and 3, so it wasn’t as perfect as I would have liked, but at least the lap counted.”
Despite a less than ideal preparation for qualifying, Verstappen was delighted with a front row start as it will put him in an ideal position to tuck into the slipstream of polesitter Carlos Sainz on the long run down to turn one.
“I barely did any laps, so I think it could only go better, really. So, yeah, we were massively on the back foot. So far, of course, it’s been quite a terrible weekend in that sense. But, yeah, to be on the front row with the difficulties that we had, I think, showed that we stayed calm and just tried to look into the data, you know, to try and understand the car a bit more and try to just be a little bit more competitive.”
The Dutchman is the winnigest driver in Mexico with five Grand Prix victories. It is also a track which should hold some sentimental value for Verstappen as this time last year he eclipsed his own record to become the most successful driver over a single season as he achieved his 16th win on route to becoming a three time world champion.
