Max Verstappen: “I was on a really good lap until I lost it on the final corner”

Max Verstappen was on course to take pole position for the first-ever Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on Saturday, but the Dutchman missed out after crashing into the wall exiting the final turn.

The Red Bull Racing driver had set a time faster than Lewis Hamilton in both of the opening two sectors and was heading to pole position, only to lock up his left-front wheel heading into turn twenty-seven, which sent him towards the wall.

Verstappen was left frustrated by the mistake, which meant he was relegated to third on the grid behind Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas, feeling he had the pace in the car to be at the front of the field. 

However, he knows the battle is to come on Sunday, and he hopes he will be fighting the two Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team drivers for victory.

“I was on a really good lap until I lost it on the final corner, I thought I had approached it in the same way I had been doing all session, but I lost the rear,” said Verstappen.  “I’m upset with myself and it is of course disappointing but there are two races to go and anything can happen.

“We had a good car in qualifying and everything was coming together which gives me hope going into the race tomorrow, also knowing that the pace was there today.

“I hope we can follow well tomorrow and if that’s the case, there should be some good opportunities and we should have a good shot.”

“Tomorrow there is still a lot to play for” – Sergio Pérez

Team-mate Sergio Pérez was disappointed with his performance in Q3, with the Mexican unable to match his time from Q2 that left him only fifth on the grid.

Pérez was out-qualified by Scuderia Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc as well as the leading trio, with the two-time race winner feeling the approach to warming up the tyres in Q3 cost him a shot at a higher grid slot.

“We were P1 in Q1 and Q2 and then in Q3 I don’t think the approach we took with the tyres was the right one,” said Pérez.  “I suddenly picked up a lot of understeer and couldn’t match my Q2 time, which is a bit of a shame.

“These tyres are so picky that if you are not in the right temperature window then your balance is totally different and that is what happened to me today. It is a physically demanding track, it puts a lot of stress on your body and mentally it is challenging too to be up there session after session.”

Pérez still believes he can interject himself into the battle for the podium as he bids to aid team-mate Verstappen’s charge for his maiden Drivers’ Championship.

“Today wasn’t an ideal day for us as a Team but tomorrow there is still a lot to play for, it is going to be a long race and anything can happen still,” he said.  “I am looking forward to it, the pace was there today and I really hope we can improve on our starting position and get into the podium positions very early on.

“We will see if starting on the clean side of the grid tomorrow is an advantage, I think the start is a good chance to overtake, then we will go from there and try to be in the mix with the leaders straight away.”

Sergio Pérez will start fifth in the first-ever Saudi Arabian Grand Prix – Credit: Lars Baron/Getty Images