Verstappen Thinks P2 Was Possible

He lines up 4th for the Australian Grand Prix tomorrow but the Red Bull driver believes the front row was on for the team.

Max Verstappen thinks he and his car had what it took to earn P2 on the grid ahead of both Ferrari's, but a mistake was to blame for his resulting grid position. Red Bull had been rumoured to be faster than Ferrari but come qualifying it was the Prancing Horse ahead of the Bull.

But for an error on his final run in Q3, the 20-year-old thinks that a front row start wasn't out of the question for Red Bull.

“I really enjoyed qualifying today,” said Verstappen.

“It’s difficult to say what I expected heading into the session. But it should have been a little bit better.

“I made a mistake on my last fast lap and went wide at turn 13 which lost me a few tenths compared to my previous run.

“We were still very close to Ferrari, which is positive. But maybe we could have been second.”

Both Red Bull's start tomorrow's Australian Grand Prix on the super-soft tyres rather than the faster but less durable ultra-softs that their rivals around them will be using come lights out, the team looking to extend their first stints in tomorrow's race and earn track position before charging late on with the softer compound tyres.

Teammate Daniel Ricciardo will have extra work to do however after picking up a 3-place grid penalty for not slowing sufficiently under a red flag in free practice two.