Did Perez’s crash influence Verstappen? 'That was probably the reason'

Max Verstappen conquered pole position on Saturday afternoon after a masterful third sector that allowed Fernando Alonso to see his first pole position since 2012 go up in smoke. Formula 1 veteran Peter Windsor also watched the Dutchman's masterclass in amazement, he says on his own YouTube channel.

"Three-tenths," Windsor said in awe. That was Verstappen's gap to Fernando Alonso, with only sector three to go. "I can't believe that he did that," says the Briton. The journalist thinks he knows why the Red Bull driver had to concede something to the Spaniard in the first two sectors. Perez's crash has probably influenced the Dutchman: "There would have been just a warning sign for going into Sainte Devote, so that is, potentially, why he would have left a little bit of margin there."

Windsor does not think Verstappen was really that much faster than Charles Leclerc or Alonso in the final sector now. But where did Verstappen win those three-tenths anyway? Windsor thinks he knows. "It was turn-in under load. It is what he does unbelievably well," the former F1 manager says.