Styrian Grand Prix – Max Verstappen gave Red Bull Racing their first pole for the opening round of their two home races at the Red Bull Ring.
Verstappen has been looking quick all weekend, comfortably fastest in both of Friday’s sessions, Mercedes might have topped the time this morning but it was Red Bull who were looking comfortable in qualifying.
The Dutchman put in the pole lap on his first run and while his second run was slower it would’ve also been good enough to seal his first back-to-back pole positions of his career.
“It’s been a very good weekend,” said Verstappen. “I think in qualifying the car was really good to drive, it was not easy to deal with traffic in the last two corners to get a clean run but I think that first lap in Q3 was good enough in the end. I had a good first sector and of course super happy to be on pole here at home, it’s always nice to see a Red Bull car first here.”
“When you look at the track you think there aren’t too many corners but actually the corners you have on the track are quite difficult. So even in T1, braking for T3, the crest and braking into T4, so it’s definitely a small track but it’s really hard to get a good lap out of it. I think that first lap in Q3 was not too bad, I mean it’s never perfect, but it’s good enough.”
Looking forward to Sunday, Verstappen expects another close-fought race. “It’s never easy, I wish sometimes it was easy but in the end that’s good for racing, and I’m sure again tomorrow it will be very tight, so hopefully again it’ll be as interesting as in France.”
The weather could play a big part in tomorrow’s race if the rain does indeed fall during the race, however rain had been expected during Friday’s practice sessions and didn’t materialise. When asked about his team’s forecast, Verstappen joked to Sky Sports F1 that “Of course we own the track so we can influence the weather around here” before saying that he really didn’t have a preference of a wet or dry race.
