After dominating the free practice sessions, Max Verstappen was unable to continue his momentum in the qualifying session for the Mexican Grand Prix of Formula 1. He will start from third, behind the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz – who were less than a tenth of a second ahead.
The already world champion explained that he couldn’t do any better, mentioning the characteristics of the circuit and the balance of his car: ‘I tried to do the best I could, but it just didn’t come together. There is very low grip on this circuit due to the altitude, so it’s not as easy to attack as strongly as I would normally do in qualifying. I didn’t have the perfect balance [of the car] in Q3 and that cost us a few tenths here and there’.
Despite the disappointing qualifying session, Verstappen emphasized his confidence for the race: ‘We were still close to the Ferraris and the race is long. I feel confident, of course I would have liked to start from first, but we will have a good slipstream into turn one, so let’s see what we can do’.
