Max Verstappen explained why he missed his final run in qualifying for the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix, a worry which proved unfounded as his only run saw him take pole position.
Verstappen set a 1:32.510s early in the final part of qualifying to put him on provisional pole, but complained of being “behind schedule,” and narrowly missed out on setting a second run as the chequered flag fell just before he crossed the line to start the lap.
However, it did not matter however, as Verstappen’s lap was still nearly three tenths ahead of Lando Norris to take pole at a canter.
Speaking after qualifying, Verstappen explained how the strong winds around the Circuit of the Americas made the lap times harder, but felt that the RB21 had grown in pace compared to his Sprint pole on Friday.
“Yeah, it was, I think, a good qualifying,” he told media including Motorsport Week. “I think the conditions weren’t easy with just stronger winds today compared to yesterday.
“So Sector 1, it was a bit harder to be consistent because the car was moving around everywhere. But I guess everyone, of course, is in the same boat with that.
“And then just Q1, Q2, just trying to progress every time with the lap time. And I didn’t feel like in Q3 the track was actually any better, maybe slightly worse, actually. I think for a lot of people. But yeah, just trying to find a little bit more pace. And luckily, it was there in the car. So it just seemed a little step forward compared to yesterday’s qualifying.”
Slow cars contributed to unstarted final run – Verstappen
Whilst Verstappen eventually did not need to complete the second run, it would have caused an unnecessary worry with other drivers determined to overhaul his first lap time.
When asked how he ended up missing out on setting that final run, Verstappen pinned it down primarily to slow cars out on track that caused him to narrowly cross the line too late to start the second run.
“There were some people in front that were just leaving like 10 seconds easily. So yeah, then you just run out of time. Then I had two cars in front of me.
“They were racing as well. I think they said purple sectors on the outlap. Yeah, that’s not ideal. So we just ran out of time.”
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