Max Verstappen expressed surprise at the strength of Red Bull at Circuit Paul Ricard after he claimed pole position for Formula 1’s French Grand Prix.
Mercedes claimed pole position upon Formula 1’s previous two visits to Paul Ricard in 2018 and 2019, with Lewis Hamilton on top on both occasions.
However Verstappen surged clear of his rivals during Saturday’s final practice session and maintained an advantage through both Q3 runs.
Verstappen finished with an advantage of 0.258s over Hamilton to claim his second pole position of the season.
“This has traditionally not been an amazing track for us so to put it on pole here we’re super happy about that,” said Verstappen.
“I knew it was going to be better than the last time we were here [in 2019], but this good, I didn’t expect.
“So that’s of course very promising for us and of course we just have to keep on going, keep on pushing, to try and make it better.”
Verstappen conceded he “wasn’t entirely happy” with the performance of the RB16B during opening practice on Friday and was consequently buoyed by the progress since.
“I think from yesterday, FP2, we made a good step forward, and basically that continued today,” he said.
“Of course the conditions in FP3 were a little bit different but we showed again in qualifying we had been good pace, so very pleased with that.”
