Max Verstappen says he is “very, very happy” to have taken pole position for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix after admitting his frustration at being unable to beat the Mercedes in qualifying previously this year.
The Red Bull driver took his first pole position of the season in the final race weekend after pipping Valtteri Bottas by less than half a tenth of a second.“I said before we went into qualifying that it’s going to be the final send of the season and we did that,” said Verstappen. “So I’m very very happy with that.”
Verstappen says the surprise result was especially satisfying after Red Bull been unable to beat the dominant Mercedes to pole position previously this year.
“For sure we are very happy with it,” said Verstappen. “The whole year when you’re behind and getting closer… it gets a bit frustrating sometimes. But, very, very pleased with today.
“It’s a long season for everyone. Especially a lot of races in a row. So I think this is a good final qualifying for everyone in the team.”
However, following yesterday’s disrupted practice sessions, Verstappen is unsure how competitive his car will be over long runs in tomorrow’s race.
“I don’t think everyone did a lot of laps [in practice],” he said. “We still have to wait and see how that goes.
“We’ll try to do our best to try and keep them behind. They’re still very fast. It seems like we have some decent top speed this weekend so hopefully that will work out for tomorrow.”
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bosyber (@bosyber)
12th December 2020, 15:25
Yeah, after that first run I really thought ‘okay, not his day’ but they turned it around, were confident they didn’t need to go out again on softs in Q2, and got that pole in a very close fight. Surely a day to treasure for Verstappen and indeed the whole team!
Hope the race turns out as close, and especially that they can for once keep the momentum with the car into next season.
dan
12th December 2020, 16:21
According to Rodber he was outperforming the car… I would love to know what Jolyon Palmer *cough cough Albon did then. 3 tenths behind. I wonder what Max did in Istanbul aswell did he outperform the car then?