Max Verstappen played down a rare off-day after only claiming third on the grid for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
As Lewis Hamilton secured his 99th Formula 1 pole at Imola, Sergio Perez also became the first Red Bull teammate to beat the Dutchman in qualifying since Monza 2019, as the top three were covered by just 0.087s.
Despite the very small gaps and the notable loss to the Mexican, Verstappen could still make a joke about his performance in Q3.
“I went off at Tamburello with two wheels. I know that Honda makes good lawnmowers, but I don’t think this one is suited for that," he said.
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"At least I tried but yeah, it was just really a scrappy lap and I haven’t had that in a long time. So just need to understand why that happened.”
One positive aspect to losing to Perez is it confirmed Red Bull will have two drivers capable of fighting Mercedes this season.
And with Valtteri Bottas only starting eighth, Verstappen hopes he and Sergio can capitalise on Hamilton being exposed.
“I think we were very close so that’s positive,” he added. “And like Checo said we have two cars close to Lewis so hopefully that will give some excitement tomorrow.
“It’s going to be interesting. We have the two cars on different tyre compounds, so let’s see how that will work out. We’ll try to make it difficult for them.”
