Max Verstappen has admitted he needs “a little bit of help or luck” to be crowned Formula 1 champion tomorrow despite taking pole position for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The Dutchman stormed to pole at the Yas Marina Circuit, taking it by two tenths from chief rival Lando Norris, with third title contender Oscar Piastri third.
Verstappen has given himself the best possible chance of retaining the title, and putting some fear and doubt into the McLaren pair’s minds with blistering pace.
But the Red Bull man still needs a lot to do to overturn the 12-point deficit to Norris on race day in order to keep hold on his crown.
After qualifying, Verstappen explained how he and Red Bull were able to overturn the initial problems he felt the RB21 was suffering from in free practice to help him secure the top spot.
“I think in general, qualifying felt a little bit more together compared to the other sessions where I always felt like we were still lacking a little bit,” he told media including Motorsport Week.
“But then I think with the final changes that we made going into the night, that seemed to help us a bit. And then throughout qualifying, just improving nicely in Q2, of course I was on scrubbed tyres.
“And to be honest, I was a little bit surprised in the first round how much the new tyres actually gave me.”
Verstappen was thankful to team-mate Yuki Tsunoda, who, by making it into Q3, was able to sacrifice one lap to give him a tow to help him to pole.
“But yeah, it was a good lap already with a little bit of help also of course from Yuki with the tow,” he said. “So that was very nice of him to give up one of his rides. And then in the second lap, I was not sure if I was going to improve just because of the tow that I got. But then again, I just found a little bit more lap time in the corners and that gave me a little bit more lap time.
“So happy with that, happy with the one lap performance at the end in qualifying. Now, of course, the big question mark is can we keep that up in the race?”
Verstappen will ‘figure out tomorrow’ the permutations needed to win title
Long run pace was what was concerning Verstappen in free practice on Friday, saying it was the fastest he had been able to be all weekend.
“We hope so [being fast in the long run on race day]. I mean I actually did a lot of laps in the long run. So we tried to prepare in the best way possible,” he said. “It’s probably the best I’ve felt. But of course, let’s see if that’s good enough.”
Verstappen, fully aware that his gap to Norris will make it extremely difficult to win the championship, admitted that some intervention and good fortune will be perhaps the only key to success.
“Of course, I’m excited and looking forward to it. I’m going to try to win that race,” he said. “But of course, with that, I still need a little bit of help or luck to win the championship. But we’ll see how that goes tomorrow.
Asked if he will agonise over the various permutations needed to win the title, Verstappen was nonplussed on the subject.
“No, we’ll figure it out tomorrow. Not tonight. It’s like talking about strategy,” he said.
“You can talk about it for one hour, two hours. And then after one lap, you throw it in the bin. A lot that can go well for you, can go against you. We’ll find out tomorrow.”
READ MORE – Max Verstappen storms to F1 Abu Dhabi GP pole position ahead of McLaren duo
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