Red Bull concede P2 was probably the best Max Verstappen could do after missing out on pole at the Spanish Grand Prix.
The reigning champion was provisionally P1 in Q3 after Charles Leclerc spun on his first run, but the Monegasque would roar back on his second attempt to finish three-tenths clear in the Ferrari.
As for Verstappen, he was complaining of a loss of power on the main straight as he aborted his final flying lap.
“It wasn’t actually power. In the end, it was a DRS that didn’t open,” Red Bull boss Christian Horner explained to Sky Sports.
“We need to get the car back to understand what’s caused it because it opened on the back straight just as a check as it came back into the pits.”
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Given the final gap to Leclerc, however: “I don’t think we had enough today to beat that lap of Charles,” he admitted.
“I don’t think we’d have beaten Charles today, but I think we would have been closer than the times suggest.”
Verstappen, perhaps unsurprisingly, wasn’t ready to accept being second-best.
“It’s always difficult to tell,” he said on if he could have claimed pole.
“Overall to be on the front row for us here, looking at the whole weekend so far, was a good achievement. But I would have liked to go for that final run.”
Second though may still be a good place for Max to start from given the long run to Turn 1 at the start and, based on practice, his race pace was superior to the Ferrari as tyre management is set to dominate.
“The last few races we seemed pretty decent on the tyres,” Verstappen explained. “Tomorrow will be very hot, very warm.
“Hopefully our car will be again a bit kinder on the tyres, but it’s a bit difficult to tell at the moment,” he added. “This track will be quite tough to pass, but let’s see.”