Horner: "Front row in qualifying today is a massive achievement"

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09:15, 16 Sep 2018

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner says that the front row appearance for Max Verstappen is a "massive achievement" for Red Bull. Horner said that the team had been expecting to be down in qualifying against their rivals but Verstappen managed to go second fastest of all.

Speaking after qualifying, the Red Bull team boss was quick to talk up his driver's efforts, describing the lap by Verstappen as a "fantastic effort" to line-up in P2 for the Singapore Grand Prix.

“After looking at the times in FP2 and FP3, for Max to finish on the front row in qualifying today is a massive achievement. He struggled with driveability issues during all three sessions which the Renault technicians tried hard to resolve. Max was able to drive around the issues in qualifying and to end up on the front row is a fantastic effort.”

“The start will be important and we know the hypersoft has high degradation, so it will be fascinating to see the different strategies that everyone employs in the race.”

Verstappen will line-up alongside pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton and ahead of the Mercedes driver's title rival Sebastian Vettel who starts third. The first corner could be very important in the championship fight with the start in 2017 a not too distant memory.

Pos.	Driver	Team	Points
1	Kimi Antonelli Kimi Antonelli	MercedesMER	179
2	George Russell George Russell	MercedesMER	136
3	Lewis Hamilton Lewis Hamilton	FerrariFER	132
4	Lando Norris Lando Norris	McLarenMCL	85
5	Charles Leclerc Charles Leclerc	FerrariFER	83
6	Oscar Piastri Oscar Piastri	McLarenMCL	82
7	Max Verstappen Max Verstappen	Red Bull RacingRBR	76
8	Isack Hadjar Isack Hadjar	Red Bull RacingRBR	42
9	Pierre Gasly Pierre Gasly	AlpineALP	41
10	Liam Lawson Liam Lawson	Racing BullsRCB	31
11	Oliver Bearman Oliver Bearman	HaasHAA	18
12	Franco Colapinto Franco Colapinto	AlpineALP	16
13	Arvid Lindblad Arvid Lindblad	Racing BullsRCB	14
14	Carlos Sainz Carlos Sainz	WilliamsWIL	6
15	Alexander Albon Alexander Albon	WilliamsWIL	5
16	Esteban Ocon Esteban Ocon	HaasHAA	3
17	Gabriel Bortoleto Gabriel Bortoleto	AudiAUD	2
18	Fernando Alonso Fernando Alonso	Aston MartinAST	1
19	Nico Hulkenberg Nico Hulkenberg	AudiAUD	0
20	Valtteri Bottas Valtteri Bottas	CadillacCAD	0
21	Sergio Perez Sergio Perez	CadillacCAD	0
22	Lance Stroll Lance Stroll	Aston MartinAST	0

Horner: "Front row in qualifying today is a massive achievement"

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