Max Vertstappen was confused as to how he failed to secure pole position for the United States Grand Prix after being beaten by Drivers’ Championship leader Kimi Antonelli during Qualifying in Austin.
The Dutchman improved his times throughout Saturday’s sessions to register an impressive 1:34.214 lap in Q3, but it wasn’t enough as the Italian stormed through and finished just under two tenths quicker than the four-time World Champion.
“I think just a few corners didn’t come together in Q3 which is something that I don’t understand because I didn’t make mistakes,” admitted Verstappen afterwards.
“[The car] was not as planted as what I’d hoped for so then you have little slides and you just can’t put the power down basically.
“It cost me in the first run unfortunately and okay, you have another run, but then the wind picked up and nobody could improve so it was very difficult.”
Saturday’s result ended Verstappen’s recent Qualifying streak after taking pole in both Malaysia and Singapore – where he converted both into race wins – but the Dutchman remains optimistic ahead of Sunday’s Grand Prix.
“The whole weekend has been close between a lot of cars and it’s just a matter of details to get it right and that’s the same tomorrow in the race.
“You need to look after your tyres, you need to have a good, solid balance in the car and hopefully we have that tomorrow.”
Verstappen will be boosted by his Red Bull team mate Isack Hadjar starting just behind him on the second row in P3, who was happy with his comeback performance after a slow start to his weekend in Texas.
“I didn’t do a lap on the softs this morning because I could not complete it – that’s how hard the car was to drive and to be third is outstanding,” said Hadjar.
“I’m very happy with how we worked on the car. It’s not like we waited for the track conditions to improve or put on new tyres to see, we were working hard on it and I’m happy with the comeback.”
When asked whether Red Bull could win a third successive Grand Prix on Sunday, Hadjar made the team’s target clear and believes that grid positioning could play a huge role.
“Yes – that’s the target,” he said. “From third, we believe the car is good and Max is right there as well so as a team, it’s going to be helpful for sure, and we’ll try and have a go at it.”
