Max Verstappen described his pole place on the Italian Grand Prix as a giant consequence for Crimson Bull, given the group’s struggles on the similar venue final yr.
Crimson Bull entered the Italian Grand Prix weekend with Verstappen main the championship comfortably, however the Dutchman was 0.7s off pole place as he certified seventh and completed over half a minute behind race winner Charles Leclerc in sixth. After taking pole with the quickest lap in System 1 historical past this time round, Verstappen says it reveals clear progress in comparison with final yr’s struggles.
“It was good,” Verstappen stated. “It is all the time powerful round right here. Low downforce, straightforward to make errors on the braking or on entries as a result of you need to commit, however with low downforce, that is not all the time straightforward. Additionally, , the closing speeds in sure corners to hit the apex completely. However I feel that ultimate lap was fairly first rate.
“To get pole right here for us is massive. It isn’t all the time been monitor for us, particularly final yr was fairly a little bit of a catastrophe. So this yr is significantly better and really completely happy to be first.”
- Italian GP qualifying report
Verstappen says among the progress is a results of developments to the Crimson Bull automobile itself, however says that isn’t the one facet that has improved, as he additionally warns that race tempo hasn’t all the time adopted sturdy qualifying performances.
“I feel we’re making enhancements on the automobile, but additionally, setup-wise we discovered a nicer course,” he stated. “We nonetheless want to know extra why within the race typically it doesn’t actually translate. I had fairly an honest feeling in Zandvoort, however then it was actually not good within the race.
“So I don’t sit right here and suppose that tomorrow goes to be improbable by way of how aggressive we’re going to be towards McLaren. The entire season has proven that sure, typically you may be in entrance in qualifying, however within the race it’s very powerful to remain forward, typically on tracks possibly the place it’s tough to move.
“Right here you’ll be able to race. I count on it to be a troublesome battle, however we’re making steps ahead, and that’s precisely what we need to do. We need to study a bit extra that hopefully additionally helps us subsequent yr.”
