Max Verstappen was satisfied as the Red Bull man stormed to an eight pole position in the 2024 season, just shy of half a second ahead of the McLaren of Lando Norris.
Max Verstappen has secured his eight pole position of 2024, and his first since the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix last month, in dominant fashion, crossing the line in Q3 an impressive 0.404s faster than nearest rival Lando Norris.
Speaking after the session, the championship leader was happy with his performance, coming following a hard fought pole position yesterday for this morning’s Sprint. The Dutchman puts his improvement down to setup changes made by the team since yesterday, despite admitting the changed track conditions made the session more difficult.
“Qualifying went really well,” Verstappen said following the session. “We tried to adjust the car a little after the things we learned this morning and I think it worked well. Of course the track is a bit warmer than yesterday. It made it all a bit trickier to drive.
“The car felt a lot better for me today. I could really attack the corners a bit more. Every run was just on point and it was very enjoyable out there.”
Breaking down the session, Verstappen explained the team continued to work on the cars balance throughout the session, allowing him to gain what in recent races has been an unheard of pole advantage over Lando Norris.
“[We tried] to progress through Q1 without using a new set [of tyres] and that worked,” he explained. “From there onwards we just tried to fine tune the balance here and there a little bit. Every lap that I did was feeling good. It’s all about trying to just nail every corner.
“It’s been a while [since] I felt like this in the car, and also looking at the gap. Last few races it’s always been very close either in front or behind. So this was definitely very positive for the team.”
Reflecting on the team’s run of challenging qualifying sessions, Verstappen credits the efforts of the team to improve the qualifying pace of the RB20.
“It has been a while since we’ve actually been on pole,” Verstappen said. “It’s a great feeling. The team has been working really hard to try and make the car more competitive. This is a great statement and hopefully we can also show that tomorrow in the race.”
When asked if his lap felt close to perfection, Verstappen, always looking to improve, noted that despite being happy with his performance, he believes there was still room for improvement. He went on to say he would likely never call a lap perfect.
“It was good.” Verstappen replied. “There are probably always things that can be done better. I felt confident, I knew that if I did a solid lap it was going to be good enough for pole. That’s what I did today and that’s what matters.
“We definitely worked hard as a team to try and be more competitive compared to the last few rounds. It seems to work so I’m definitely happy with that.
“Of course you always try to nail laps in qualifying. Some are a bit better than others. This one was for sure very good. I’m probably never going to say it’s a perfect lap but it was a good lap.”
