Max Verstappen says the optimistic indicators from Purple Bull’s tempo at the USA Grand Prix outweigh any frustration over lacking out on pole place.
Victory within the Dash was Verstappen’s first win of any type because the Dash on the Austrian Grand Prix again in July, and he duly appeared set for pole place once more after topping each of the primary two elements of qualifying on Saturday. Nevertheless, Lando Norris was quickest on the opening runs in Q3 after which George Russell crashed to finish the session early, leaving Verstappen to accept second on the grid.
“I used to be quantity up however already my first lap in Q3 I missed Flip 19,” Verstappen mentioned. “I don’t know what occurred there. I simply turned in, braked a bit late, tried to hold extra velocity, I needed to downshift another time and misplaced fairly a bit there which might have already got been sufficient for pole.
“So I knew the second lap there was time to seek out without cost, however by no means actually obtained to that nook. That occurs. In qualifying, it isn’t at all times in your management. Basically for us, this complete weekend thus far has been much more optimistic, we might at the least struggle for pole.
“I’m general blissful. I’m not annoyed. … I felt fairly respectable right this moment. We made a number of modifications on the automotive and hopefully that can assist once more for the race, after which hopefully we are able to try to do the identical.
As he goes looking for his first grand prix win since Spain — 9 races in the past — Verstappen places the stronger exhibiting at COTA right down to a mixture of observe traits and a extra criticism Purple Bull automotive.
“To begin with, Singapore has by no means been observe for us,” he mentioned. “All of the low-speed corners and the bumps, our automotive simply doesn’t actually work on that. It’s a really completely different observe format. Plus, I believe we made the automotive extra secure, so you possibly can assault corners a bit higher. That then additionally helps the tires out a bit, so I believe that has been the primary enchancment.”
