'Another Flawless Round From Max!': Verstappen Praised By Red Bull Boss After Qualifying
F1Saturday, 23 March 2024 at 23:45
Red Bull Racing's Helmut Marko praised the triple World Champion after he scored his third consecutive pole in the third round of the 2024 season.
Going into qualifying, Red Bull seemed to be on the back foot compared to Ferrari. The team from Maranello showed better pace in both qualifying and race simulations in free practice sessions.
Even during the first two-thirds of qualifying, Red Bull drivers couldn't match Carlos Sainz's pace. However, Max Verstappen stepped up when it mattered and put in incredible laps in Q3, which no one could challenge. As @redbulletin (on Twitter) reports, Helmut Marko told Sky Sports after the session:
"Incredible teamwork between the engineers, the tire experts, and Max! At the beginning of qualifying, there was still a little too much understeer, but it was not a big problem."
Even the triple World Champion himself admitted it was "unexpected" for him to be standing on pole in Melbourne. He suggested it was a tricky weekend but looked forward to the race on Sunday. Marko continued:
"Slowly but surely, we pushed the limit, and Max drove another great lap. He managed the tires in such a way that everything was right in the last run. We didn't expect that, but we are happy!"
The big problem for almost all drivers in Melbourne was that if they pushed too much in the opening two sectors, their tires would overheat before the last one, causing them to lose a lot of time as a consequence.
So, the qualifying session at Albert Park Circuit was also about tire management, and Marko is convinced that Verstappen has done that brilliantly.
"The problem was that the tires overheated in the third sector. In the penultimate corner we lost all the lead we had built up during the rest of the lap. We knew we had to work on that."
"The fact that it worked out so well: compliments to the entire team. It was another flawless round from Max!"
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