Verstappen: “I knew it was a matter of time. Today, we finally got it!”
BUDAPEST, Hungary—August 3rd—It took a long time for a driver who’s young and who has also won a couple of Grand Prix races. But no matter, Max Verstappen finally has a new track record of 1:14:572 and he also took his first career pole. Those are gigantic reasons why Verstappen will never forget what happened today in Budapest at the Hungaroring. For F1, it was the 100th time in history that different pole-sitter is on the front row of a Grand Prix race.
“It feels good, but the whole weekend the car was very competitive,” Verstappen said. “It’s always a question of how it will work out in qualifying where we know (Mercedes) can turn up a bit more power. But the car was incredible, and it was really enjoyable to drive.”
Verstappen had set already a fast time midway through the final session but augmented it moments later with a new track record.
Both Bottas and Hamilton, who followed Verstappen in the final minutes, could not match the Dutchman’s time. They finished second and third, respectively.
Verstappen and Hamilton (earlier) had taken the first two sessions, but the opening sessions had a huge number of cars clogging the final corner, which saw Daniel Ricciardo get blocked by Sergio Perez. Ricciardo could do nothing but lift off going into the final straight and doing that compromised his lap. He’ll begin race day in 18th place, which did not charm the Australian any. Perez, on the other hand, ended up one position higher than Ricciardo at 17th.
The Renault team did not benefit at all on the day. Nico Hulkenberg finished in 11th, while American Haas F1’s Kevin Magnussen also failed to advance to the final round, taking 15th for race day.
As for Ferrari, Charles Leclerc spun out on the final corner and slightly damaging the corner of his rear wing and parts of the diffuser in the opening session. But the Frenchman did put in a solid effort on a strong lap in the last session.
Still, though, Leclerc could do no better than fourth. His Ferrari partner, Sebastian Vettel, was mostly quiet all day and finished in fifth.
Pierre Gasly was sixth in the other Red Bull, while the McLaren duo of Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz Jr. took seventh and eighth, respectively. The other Haas of Romain Grosjean drove a convincing ninth, while Kimi Raikkonen finished up the top ten in his Alfa in tenth.
Verstappen admitted afterward that it was nice to finally get a pole, but he knows that Sunday is important. “To get your first pole is very nice, but what happens on Sunday is what counts. I knew it was a matter of time. I made mistakes as well to miss a pole shot. Today we finally got it.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-If-bly8P3s
