Max Verstappen has admitted he is unsatisfied with his race pace despite leading a Red Bull front row lockout with pole position for Formula 1’s Japanese Grand Prix.
Verstappen topped all three stages at the Suzuka circuit to maintain his flawless one-lap record in 2024 as he bids to rebound from his retirement in Australia last time.
The Dutchman will line up at the front alongside team-mate Sergio Perez, who wound up 0.066s further back to secure Red Bull’s first 1-2 finish in qualifying this season.
“I think around here, at Suzuka, it’s always very nice when the fuel comes out, the balance, is more or less there and then you can push flat out,” Verstappen said.
“So it’s always very, very nice. And of course with the cars improving every single year, it makes it even better. Especially the high speed. So that made it really nice today.”
Verstappen made a marginal improvement on his last run, citing that overheating rubber was to blame for him being unable to extend his advantage to a greater degree.
“Well, I started to lose time from Turn 13 onwards. So it’s very sensitive around here with the tyres,” he elucidated.
“As soon as you push maybe a bit too hard in Sector 1, you run out of tyres to the end. And that’s what happened to me in my final lap. So that’s why I didn’t really improve a lot.
“Also my last chicane, because the front tyres were giving up, I didn’t hit the kerb how it should have been. And yeah, let’s say that wasn’t ideal, but it was still good enough.
“So of course I always wanted to be perfect, but that’s not possible. So luckily it was still good enough today.”
But while Suzuka has tended to be a tough track to overtake on at recent times, Verstappen is cautious about Red Bull’s race pace following his long runs in practice.
Verstappen has pinpointed Ferrari as a potential threat for the win tomorrow, despite McLaren’s Lando Norris capitalising on their one-lap struggles to slot into third.
“I think so far I haven’t been happy with my long runs. I think the pace wasn’t what I would have liked,” he conceded.
“So it’s a bit of a question mark going into tomorrow, because looking at the long run, especially Ferrari, they look very comfortable.
“So maybe they were not so quick over one lap today, but they were definitely fast in the long run. So we’ll have to wait and see how that will evolve tomorrow in the race.”
Asked whether he was surprised that Ferrari wasn’t a challenger for pole, Verstappen replied: “I cannot look inside the Ferrari garage [as to] why that is.
“But it’s quite obvious that then in the long run they seem quite competitive. So, we’ll see tomorrow why that is or if it actually is the case like that.”
However, Verstappen is optimistic that Red Bull understood the areas it was lacking and has made the relevant set-up changes to improve the car’s balance for the race.
“From our side, I have some ideas of what we have to look into to make tomorrow better, and that’s also what we already changed after FP3,” he added.
“So hopefully that will be better for tomorrow.
“Our race pace is still not too bad, but it’s not how I have been feeling in some of the races this year, last year, as comfortable, let’s say it like that.
“But hopefully with the changes that we made, it will be better.”
