Red Bull team principal Christian Horner believes Max Verstappen has a long career in Saudi Arabia ahead of him after a frustrating qualifying result. The Brit felt that Sergio Perez needs a clean race and perfect execution, while the Dutchman will have a challenging race from 15th on the grid.
Expressing his views on Red Bull’s qualifying result ahead of the Saudi Arabian GP, Horner said on Saturday:
“A tale of two qualifying sessions today. First of all, a brilliant performance from Checo. He drove incredibly well and put in a fantastic lap to take pole position; his second pole here in Jeddah, back to back. On the other hand, it’s hugely frustrating for Max. A driveshaft failure put him out of qualifying when we were really getting started in Q2.
“His lap in Q1 would have put him in P4 for tomorrow’s race. It’s a real shame, but we’re already in the process of understanding the problem. Max has a mountain to climb from 15th, but knowing Max, he will. “. up to the challenge and it will certainly be interesting to see what he achieves. For Checo, it’s all about sticking to the strategy, staying out of trouble and surviving those first few laps. Lots of action to come and lots to look forward to.”
The defending champion qualified 15th for the race, after being knocked out of Q2 due to a broken driveshaft. The Red Bull team is confident that the Dutchman will move up the grid during the race, but wants both cars to have the top positions on the grid for the race.
Max Verstappen discusses reasons for poor qualifying, feels it will be an unpredictable race
Max Verstappen stated that his car’s driveshaft broke during qualifying without warning, leading him to sit out of the second session. The Dutch champion also mentioned that his car was working well throughout the weekend and there were no signs of any problems until Q2.
He feels that the race in Jeddah will be very unpredictable and they have a lot of work ahead of them. Speaking after the Saudi Arabian GP qualifying session, Verstappen said:
“The driveshaft broke in Turn 10 at the rear right, so that was it for qualifying. It really happened out of nowhere. We hadn’t had any problems before that. It was annoying because the car was going well until then. I felt comfortable in every session and every time I was on the track. I was fast, so for sure we could have fought for pole.
“Instead, now we have a bit more work ahead of us tomorrow, but it is what it is, it’s a long Championship and we’ll stay positive. I think a win is difficult from that position, but I’ll try to score as many points as possible.” as possible. It will be difficult to get to the front, but we will not give up. Anything is possible on this track. We’ve seen some crazy stuff here, but we have to be realistic. It will be difficult, but we have a good pace, so we will definitely keep going”.
Starting 15th on the grid, it will be a long race for the two-time champion, so a clean and trouble-free race will be key to getting a good result.
