Max Verstappen says he’s excited in regards to the shut race with the McLaren drivers after once more outperforming each Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri within the dash on the US Grand Prix.
Purple Bull’s resurgence since Monza continues, with Verstappen beating each McLarens in each qualifying session since taking pole place in Italy final month. This contains sturdy performances in Baku and Singapore, and after setting the quickest time in dash qualifying, he expects to go head-to-head with the McLaren pair on Saturday.
“It was an important qualifying,” Verstappen stated. “I believe we have been fairly shut all through all of the segments. It is only a matter of attempting to place every part collectively on the final essential second, which isn’t simple since you go to mushy compounds with none reference. Nevertheless it labored out.”
“Nonetheless, we anticipate a troublesome battle within the dash tomorrow. That is precisely what we need to see, proper? Excited for tomorrow and proud of right now.”
“You’ll be able to really feel the wind going up and down, very sturdy winds. The observe can be very bumpy, so automobiles can simply take off at excessive speeds. In qualifying like that, it’s a must to depart some margin right here and there. Nonetheless, I believe for us it was one other superb day.”
With Norris in second and Piastri in third, Verstappen says it could possibly be vital to maintain them each behind him within the opening laps as COTA’s first nook can be tough to defend.
“Simply do your greatest and get off to an excellent begin,” he stated. “Flip 1 can be extensive. I hope we are able to have an excellent tempo within the race, however we’ll see that tomorrow.[McLaren’s threat]is huge. I imply, they’re tremendous quick. I do know they normally decide up pace little by little in a race, so it may be a troublesome battle.”
The Dutchman was sad with the automobile’s dealing with in Friday’s FP1, however stated Purple Bull had made applicable modifications all through the qualifying session and supplied him with a automobile he was assured in.
“It was only a matter of understanding the course and making some tweaks,” he stated. “Coming again, the course was much more bumpy, so it was very tough to drive at occasions. We made some changes to the automobile and it was slightly higher in qualifying.”
“Going by way of the compound to the mushy and just one final run. It was okay. It was good. I am glad to be in first place. I am very near it. I anticipate it to be the identical in tomorrow’s race.”
