Max Verstappen is hoping for an “exciting” battle on race day after claiming a second pole in a week at the Styrian Grand Prix.
The Dutchman was the only driver to break into the 1m03s in qualifying on Saturday, leading the two Mercedes’ by two-tenths of a second.
And with the combination of Red Bull’s home race and a small portion of the ‘Orange Army’ back in the grandstands, Verstappen was delighted to deliver what they came to see.
“It’s been a very good weekend,” he said. “Again in qualifying the car was really good to drive.
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“It was not easy to deal with the traffic in the last few corners to get a clean run but I think that first lap in Q3 was good enough.
“In the end, super happy to be on pole here at home, it’s always nice to see a Red Bull car first here.”
While Verstappen did make claiming his sixth Formula 1 pole look fairly easy in qualifying, he admitted it was all about maximising each process.
“I think it clicked quite well in qualifying, we made a few little adjustments and it seemed like that was a good step forward,” he explained.
“So then it was getting through the tyres, making sure you qualify on the medium in Q2 because the gaps round here are quite small so it was not super easy to get through Q2 with that tyre.
“But we managed to do that and pretty pleased in Q3, that first lap was pretty good. My second run was a little bit worse just because I was the last one in the train, so my tyres were just a little bit too cold to start the lap, but nevertheless, it was a good qualifying.”
He’s in the zone right now! ?#StyrianGP ?? @Max33Verstappen pic.twitter.com/r2SQ2sOPGI
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 26, 2021
On Sunday, Max goes in search of his third win in five races at the Red Bull Ring, following his pair of victories in 2018 and 2019.
But while he might be the favourite, the 23-year-old does anticipate a race day surge from Lewis Hamilton, who starts alongside on the front row after Valtteri Bottas’ penalty.
“I guess so, yeah,” Verstappen added. “It seemed like in the long runs again we were closely matched.
“Of course, that’s yesterday, today was again a bit of a different day, so we’ll see tomorrow, but I expect it to be close again. Hopefully, it will also be an exciting one again.”