Verstappen surprises even himself with pole position: 'Nobody expected this'

"Pressed the gas pedal to 100%," Verstappen began in response to a question from GPblog about where this had come from. Verstappen even tried more than that: "Yes, I tried, but there really was no more in it."

Yet, a pole position seemed far from possible for a long time. Helmut Marko still had hope on Friday after the second free practice session. Then, understeer was mainly the issue, but in FP3 and in qualifying, it long seemed that Verstappen could not compete for the pole position. Until the last lap. Verstappen was surprised by that too.

Asked if the cold and windy conditions played into Red Bull Racing's hands, Verstappen said: "The conditions are the same for everyone, of course. You have to deal with it, but I was just able to find a bit more time."

Afterwards, his father Jos also stated that what Max had done was actually not possible. "No, I think nobody expected that if you look at it realistically. In our team, there are also a few who think it's always possible, but of course, it's not."

From the pole position, Verstappen can start the hunt for his third victory of the Formula 1 season. Yet, his three previous poles only resulted in one victory, at Imola. Verstappen usually can mask a lot of the issues in qualifying, which then surface in the race. For Sunday's Grand Prix, Verstappen remained cautious.