Verstappen behind Mercedes: "I'm pretty happy"

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9 October 2021 at 14:10
  • GPblog.com

Max Verstappen will start the Turkish Grand Prix from the first row of the grid. The Dutch driver of Red Bull Racing recorded the third time in qualifying at Istanbul Park, but due to the grid penalty of Lewis Hamilton he moves up a place. Verstappen doesn't think there was much more to the race.

"Going off at the beginning was tricky with the conditions, but compared to yesterday we managed to turn it around quite well. The laps overall were quite good, even though the last one we lost a bit down the straight," Verstappen said in initial reaction. Red Bull Racing's Friday was nothing short of disappointing, but over the last 24 hours, the Austrian formation has made good improvements to the set-up.

Verstappen happy

Did qualifying go to plan for Verstappen? "Overall, it's quite a decent recovery compared to yesterday. Tomorrow, lining up in second, let's wait and see what the weather will do, but overall I'm pretty happy," he states.

The RB16B's setup should also work better in the long runs and thus for Sunday's race. "I should be a bit better, let's see how competitive we will be in the race. The tyre wear seems quite high around the track, but it's quite fun to drive."