Max Verstappen says he always knew a maiden pole position was “a matter of time”, after he claimed top spot on the grid for Formula 1’s Hungarian Grand Prix.
Verstappen has started almost 100 grands prix, during which spell he has taken seven wins and 26 podiums, but a pole position had remained out of reach.
Red Bull has typically lacked ultimate one-lap pace during Verstappen’s time with the team, though on the three occasions it claimed pole position it was then team-mate Daniel Ricciardo who led the way.
Red Bull has displayed stronger qualifying pace at recent grands prix and on Saturday Verstappen edged Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas by 0.018s to take pole position.
“For me it never really mattered,” he said. “I knew it was a matter of time, you need a bit of luck sometimes as well.
“Of course I made mistakes myself to miss the pole position shot but today we got it, so very happy with that.”
Verstappen underlined that Red Bull – and Honda – can be satisfied with the gains made through the course of the 2019 campaign.
“We are pushing harder, improving and we are getting closer to Mercedes and Ferrari, especially Ferrari they seem very quick on the straights,” he said.
“But with the chassis since Austria, where we introduced a few crucial updates, I think the car has been a lot better.
“From there onwards we kept bringing new parts, maybe not as major as that one, but it always gave me a bit of a balanced feeling in the car and that’s exactly what we were looking for in the car and I guess it shows today on a track where you need a lot of downforce that the car was working really well.”
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