Max Verstappen reluctantly accepted that the issues plaguing his Red Bull were too great for him to be in the fight for pole position in Qatar, but he was optimistic that “anything can happen” in the upcoming Grand Prix.
The reigning World Champion, who finds himself within 25 points of Lando Norris’ lead in the Standings, has repeatedly struggled with the car bouncing at the Lusail International Circuit.
Red Bull have been unable to find a complete solution in the four sessions so far, making Verstappen’s challenge of taking the fight to the McLaren duo even more difficult.
Despite struggling with the problem again in Qualifying, he ended the hour in P3, 0.264s adrift of Oscar Piastri’s pole lap.
Asked whether his car performance had improved, he replied: “I think this Qualifying was a little bit better even though we were still quite far off, let’s say it like that.
“I felt a little bit happier but there are still some limitations that don’t allow us to push harder around the lap, but at least we are P3.
“Starting on the second row creates better opportunities because we know it’s quite hard to pass around here. We’ll see what we can do tomorrow. Realistically, it’s a bit tough this weekend. It’s just not been what I wanted it to be so far, but we’ll see what we can do tomorrow.”
After identifying the issue in the sole practice session of the weekend, the Dutchman has gradually edged closer to the McLarens, turning sixth on the grid to fourth in the Sprint. After passing Fernando Alonso and Yuki Tsunoda on the opening lap, he was unable to follow third-placed Norris closely.
To carry the title fight between himself, Piastri and Norris into the season finale in Abu Dhabi, Verstappen must find a way to outscore the Briton in the Qatar Grand Prix, making his start on the opening lap crucial.
Prompted on his expectations for the race, he said: “I already saw it of course in the Sprint. I don’t expect that to be completely different tomorrow so we’ll see. We’ll try to do the best we can. I’ll try to have a good start and just go from there because anything can happen.
“I think it was a little bit nicer to drive but still lacking the same things as what I had yesterday and this afternoon. It was less severe but still big enough to not be closer, but that’s our problem with these medium-speed corners.
“There’s just a little bit too much understeer and you can’t push how you want to, plus you overheat the tyres as well, which on a track like this is almost like a double whammy.”
