Max Verstappen described his and Red Bull’s performance during British Grand Prix qualifying as “bittersweet”, believing turbo lag cost him a shot at pole position.
Verstappen had been off the pace throughout the three practice sessions at Silverstone, trailing Red Bull team-mate Pierre Gasly, but ultimately qualified in fourth place.
Verstappen’s Q3 lap left him within two-tenths of pole sitter Valtteri Bottas, with the Dutchman buoyed by the progress since practice but frustrated at missing out on a shot at top spot overall.
“In a way I’m very happy because before qualifying I was really not happy,” Verstappen told MBC.
“The whole weekend I was struggling for balance. Around here in all those fast corners when you don’t have the balance you just lose lap time. So we improved that in qualifying and the car was great.
“I think we had a really good set-up but we had turbo lag the whole day so all the time in the low-speed corners the engine was not responding.
“So when you look at the lap time and you’re that close to pole, it’s a bit bitter sweet I would say as those issues definitely cost me one and a half or two-tenths so I could have fought for pole.”
Gasly will start from fifth position on the grid, equalling his best result of the 2019 campaign.
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