“Max would have been on pole by I guess almost half a second”– Mercedes boss is clueless from where Red Bull so much pace in Saudi Arabia

Max Verstappen was on the verge of getting his pole position in Saturday’s qualifying, but a crash on the last turn let Mercedes win the battle.

The Red Bull ace Max Verstappen was flying on his last lap with Red Bull on Saturday’s qualifying in Saudi Arabia. However, he locked up in one of the trickiest turns and crashed into the wall.

Thus, Lewis Hamilton got the pole ahead of the main race on Sunday. However, the near to perfect lap by Verstappen showed the extreme pace Red Bull possessed in Jeddah.

And Toto Wolff is undoubtedly worried about it. He claims Verstappen was projecting an almost half a second better timing than Hamilton in his last flying lap. But he doesn’t know from where Verstappen is gaining so much pace.

Mira como venía volando el animal, que bestia. Verstappen es de esos talentos que no se compran, no se fabrican ni se adquieren, nació con esto. Siempre al limite, a todo o nada.#F1 #SaudiArabiaGP#Verstappenpic.twitter.com/JvvAdjeQBM

— El Mejor del Resto 🏁 (@elmejordelresto) December 4, 2021

“Probably the drivers outperformed the car, and Max would have been on pole by I guess almost half a second,” Wolff said. “So this is something which we need to analyse because it’s not what we expected.

“Max crashing out obviously, the last lap, puts us in a more fortunate situation with one and two on the grid. But this is for today, and I think we can deem ourselves fortunate by that situation. The race is a totally different game again.”

Also read: Pirelli confident the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix will not witness any tyre punctures

Mercedes thinks Red Bull is level on the straights

Wolff claims that he can’t pinpoint any single reason for Red Bull’s pace on Saturday. However, he believes that the Milton-Keynes-based outfit has levelled them on the straights.

“I think we are pretty equal on the straights,” Wolff said. “But we’ve been losing in the high-speed [corners], but also in qualifying, in some of the low-speed, the drivers were not at all happy with the car.”

“It’s between understeering, snapping, jacking, rolling, you name it.”

Also read: Jos Verstappen confirms son Max will not join Mercedes if Toto Wolff is in-charge

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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