“Luckily everything came together”- Max Verstappen says fate helped him in getting the pole position ahead of the final race on Sunday.
Max Verstappen secured his first pole position of the year and stripped Mercedes of their pole position streak in Yas Marina ever since the start of the hybrid era.
Verstappen had a faster time, but it was only a marginal difference, with a +0.025 seconds gap only separated him and Valtteri Bottas for the P1 position, and Verstappen said that luck favoured him a lot.
YES, BOYS! Super happy with this pole position, everything came together. Mega job from the team today 💪 #KeepPushing #AbuDhabiGP 🇦🇪 pic.twitter.com/xHpjf3cbjJ
— Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) December 12, 2020
“I said before qualifying it’s going to be the final end of the season, and we did that. I’m very happy about that. It was quite a tricky qualifying to get the lap together. There are so many corners where you can make a mistake but luckily everything came together in that final lap.” he said.
“It’s a long season for everyone, especially a lot of races in a row, so I think this was a good final qualifying for everyone in the team. The whole year when you’re behind getting closer it gets frustrating but very pleased with today.”
Will manage to keep the gap
Even with an advantage ahead of the race, Bottas and Hamilton would be breathing down his neck, yet he still thinks that in the end, the straight lines will help to remain ahead.
“I don’t think we did a lot of laps, everyone, so we have to wait and see how that goes. We will try to do our best to try to keep them behind. They are still very fast but it seems we have a decent top speed so hopefully that will work out for tomorrow.”
With this, the F1 season will be concluded and the preparations for the 2021 calendar will take a step ahead.