After a close qualifying shootout which saw Max Verstappen take pole position for the Sprint at the United States GP by just over five hundredths of a second from Sunday pole-sitter Charles Leclerc, the reigning world champion is wary of threats coming from behind, and says he doesn’t “know what’s gonna happen” in the 19-lap race.
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The now three-time world champion redeemed himself after a difficult Friday qualifying – which saw him qualify only P6 after a track limits violation on what was set to be his pole lap – to take the top spot in the Sprint Shootout at Austin, just pipping Leclerc and Hamilton by the slenderest of margins.
Speaking after the session, the Dutchman said his RB19 felt “competitive” since the first part of the Sprint qualifying session, and admitted some relief to take pole despite his “not particularly great” final run in SQ3:
“Throughout the whole day so far in qualifying, I think we were quite competitive,” said Verstappen. “I think the last lap wasn’t particularly great, but [I’m] still on pole, so that means that the car was working quite well.”
Whilst he is in familiar territory as usual for the 2023 F1 season, Verstappen is not counting out any of his rivals for a fight in the Sprint later on, saying he doesn’t know what will happen in the 19-lap race at the Circuit of the Americas:
“It’s gonna be an exciting afternoon, where you can see a lot of different cars being very close to each other, so you don’t really know what’s gonna happen in the Sprint race.
“It’s all going to be a bit of a question mark,” he said when asked about the race pace of his RB19. “Overall, I do think that normally in the race we are quite OK, but nevertheless this track is always quite demanding.”
Despite the short nature of the race, the Dutchman still expects tyre management to play a key role due to COTA’s “demanding” characteristics with a mix of low- and high-speed turns proving particularly stressful for the Pirelli tyres:
“Tyre management is always quite key around here, the wear is quite high because of all the high-speed corners, and then of course having to deal with the low-speed [sector three] where you need traction.
“It’s gonna be tough, but it’s not going to be 19 laps of full throttle, let’s put it like that.”
Pole-sitter for the main race on Sunday, Charles Leclerc hopes he can take the fight to Verstappen also in the Sprint, and is banking on getting a good start from second place, which has often happened in the past – but the Monegasque quickly realised that could ironically be to his disadvantage come tomorrow:
“The car was exactly the same. The conditions changed and we had to adapt quickly.
“It was a positive qualifying. Of course, it’s disappointing to not be on pole but second place is not that bad on this track.
“I will do everything to try and pass Max [Verstappen] into Turn 1. The grip in second place always seems to be quite good looking at past years.
“I really hope it didn’t change for this year. Actually, I don’t know because I am on pole tomorrow, but I hope today we can pass Max,” the Monegasque told Sky Sports.
Lewis Hamilton will start in third place, after qualifying once again incredibly close tp the front row and the pole man, as just 0.014s seconds separated him from Leclerc, with a further 0.055s to Verstappen.
Speaking to Sky Sports after the session, the seven-time world champion said the results of both qualifying sessions in Austin shows Mercedes is “progressing as a team” and getting closer to challenging for victories again, pointing out that the recent trends are all “very positive”:
“I think it was a little bit closer than yesterday. It was a tough session, particularly on the mediums,” said Hamilton. “To be this close in Austin just shows we are progressing as a team and we can take that as a real positive. We are in a good position to apply some pressure on the leaders.
“It’s all very positive, so we will wait and see but I’m hoping we can hold on.”
