Hope in Verstappen: 'There’s still a very good chance'

Max Verstappen could not prevent Lewis Hamilton from setting the fastest time during qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix. Lawrence Barretto expects Verstappen to win the race, partly due to the grid penalty of the Brit.

The journalist from the official website of Formula 1 explained that confidence is high at Red Bull Racing.

"The word inside the team is that they believe they've got a good race car to fight on Sunday. They can also take hope from the fact that while Verstappen was unhappy with the car, and at times looked like he really had to hustle it around the lap with overheating rears a problem in some corners, he still managed the second-best time."

Barretto therefore believes that the Austrian team will be looking for some extra performance.

"If they can find something overnight and in second practice tomorrow, there's still a very good chance Red Bull can deliver on their favourite tag for this weekend, Verstappen having won here in 2019 and come within a whisker in 2018, too, after all. "

Second drivers performing well

Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas also performed excellently in Brazil. While the Finn set the third fastest time of qualifying, Perez had to settle for the fourth starting position.