Verstappen baffled after missing out on United States Grand Prix pole in Austin

By Vancouver Television Sports Desk

Max Verstappen said he was “baffled” after missing out on pole position for the United States Grand Prix in Austin, despite improving his lap times across Saturday’s qualifying sessions. The Dutchman set an impressive 1:34.214 in Q3, but he was beaten by Drivers’ Championship leader Kimi Antonelli, who delivered the quickest lap to claim pole by just under two tenths.

Verstappen said the difference came down to details in Q3 and conditions that made it hard to extract performance consistently. “I think just a few corners didn’t come together in Q3 which is something that I don’t understand because I didn’t make mistakes,” he said. He also blamed a lack of stability in the car: “The [car] was not as planted as what I’d hoped for so then you have little slides and you can’t put the power down basically.”

According to Verstappen, track and wind factors affected the second attempt at a flying lap. “It cost me in the first run unfortunately and okay, you have another run, but then the wind picked up and nobody could improve so it was very difficult,” he added.

Verstappen’s qualifying outcome ended a recent streak of pole positions, after he took pole in both Malaysia and Singapore—converting each into race wins. Looking ahead to Sunday’s Grand Prix, he said the weekend had been unusually tight between many cars and that small setup and tyre-management details would decide the race. “You need to look after your tyres, you need to have a good, solid balance in the car and hopefully we have that tomorrow,” Verstappen said.

Red Bull had reason for encouragement as Isack Hadjar qualified directly behind Verstappen on the second row in P3. Hadjar said his comeback came despite difficulties earlier in Texas, explaining that he did not complete a qualifying run on the soft tyres on Saturday morning because of how difficult the car was to drive. “I didn’t do a lap on the softs this morning because I could not complete it—that’s how hard the car was to drive and to be third is outstanding,” he said.

Hadjar credited effective work on the car rather than waiting for the track to change. “It’s not like we waited for the track conditions to improve or put on new tyres to see, we were working hard on it and I’m happy with the comeback,” he said. When asked about the team’s chances of winning again, Hadjar confirmed the target: “Yes—that’s the target,” adding that grid position could be significant from third on the grid as Verstappen is “right there as well.”