Verstappen explains choice: 'We weren't fast enough in Q2'

In qualifying for the Sakhir Grand Prix, Red Bull Racing made a striking choice. They let Max Verstappen go out on the softest tyre in the second part of qualifying, while both drivers from Mercedes chose to race on the medium tyre in Q2. As a result, the starting tyres for the top three drivers are also different, with Verstappen on the softer tyres.

In the press conference after qualifying, Verstappen explains that he did not go out on the softest compound because he wasn't fast enough. "It’s a different context. I had to take the soft because my medium lap wasn’t good enough. It was a bit too tight for us, so we’ll see tomorrow," Verstappen said,

Soft tyre is going to help?

"It’s not always being aggressive but sometimes you have to. I think last week still from my side I think we could have done a better job and a little bit of a different strategy." On the normal circuit in Bahrain the Dutchman came second behind Lewis Hamilton, but due to several pit stops the gap to the Brit was huge.

"I think we all learn so that was again a moment where you learn from and we’ll see what we have to do tomorrow." Verstappen in any case looks forward to the race on Sunday evening. "I’m starting on a different tyre already, so that’s going to be interesting and from there onwards, last week our long runs, they looked quite good but then again in the race we just came a bit short, so that was a bit of a shame," the Dutchman concludes.