“Struggling a lot with grip”– Max Verstappen fumes after his qualifying performance in Portugal

Tanish Chachra | 01/05/2021
"Struggling a lot with grip"– Max Verstappen fumes after his qualifying performance in Portugal

“Struggling a lot with grip”– Max Verstappen is furious with the qualifying performance in Portugal as he secures 2nd lane start.

Max Verstappen struggled to fight for his spot in Portugal, as he violated the track limit in his first flying lap and later had a minor hiccup which spoilt his timing.

The Dutch race driver appeared enraged with the result and also used swear words on his team radio. In the post-qualifying interview, he had some unpleasant views regarding his performance.

“All qualifying was very difficult to drive, struggling a lot with grip,” he says. “I was quite confident we could still do a good final lap but the last sector, the car in front just disturbs you. It cost me a lot of lap time, but it is what it is.”

Max Verstappen complained about the grip on Friday too

This is not the first time this week when Verstappen has complained about the lack of grip his car is having at Portimao. However, this was the case with other teams too.

And Mercedes went into the Q3 with medium compound, whereas Red Bull took on with the soft tyres. So, Mercedes should have had more grip problems since both lewis Hamilton, and Verstappen claimed that the softer compounds would have reduced the problem.

Whatever it may be, Red Bull wouldn’t be delighted with the result, as they failed to split Mercedes, with Sergio Perez fetching a P4 start for Sunday.

Now, it remains to be seen whether Verstappen would be able to pull the incredible performance of Imola, or would this be Mercedes’ weekend again.

Verstappen would definitely step in with the mentality of settling the score with Hamilton, as a fierce rivalry between them is budding between them. So, amidst the beautiful Portimao circuit, it would be exciting to witness a thrilling encounter.

Post Edited By: Tanish Chachra
Max Verstappen Red Bull

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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