“It’s not relief”- Max Verstappen on bagging pole position in Bahrain Grand Prix

“It’s not relief”- Max Verstappen says that getting a pole position in the qualifying round was his bare minimum expectation.

Max Verstappen on Saturday night delivered a thumping performance at Bahrain during the qualifying round; it was a historic feat, as it could signify the end of Mercedes’ era.

Formula 1 fraternity found a rejoice because finally, this year, someone is on par with Mercedes. Though, Verstappen is not overjoyed by fetching a pole at Bahrain.

“It’s not relief,” Verstappen said in the post-qualifying press conference. “That’s what you always aim for, right? Of course, in the last few years, it hasn’t really materialised,” he added.

“But in a way, the regulations haven’t really changed a lot, and we knew what our weaknesses were last year, and it seems like we addressed them so far at the beginning of the year and yeah, of course, very happy with that.”

“Great start for us but, of course, no guarantees for the future but of course, very happy so far with the whole weekend.”

Things can change at any time.

Despite having a promising start to the Grand Prix, Verstappen is wary of the fact that at any turn, things could change for him, as he cites his last night’s incident.

“In general, so far, the whole weekend has been pretty good,” the Red Bull driver said. “But the wind is changing all the time, which is not so easy on the cars, so you really have to pay attention to that from Q1.”

“Q2 was quite stable, but it was all about not making a mistake in Turn 1. It was alright. In Q2, we went to the medium tyre, so we qualified on that and then getting into Q3, it was just getting your references back.”

“The first lap wasn’t amazing, but the second one was a good lap and of course very happy to be in pole position, and it just shows that the guys, after the end of last year,” he added.

“Just keep pushing really hard, and the adjustments that have been made to the car have done a great job, so really happy for the whole team.”

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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