Max Verstappen doesn’t feel he “left anything on the table” in qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix.
The Dutchman will start the race at the Sahkir International Circuit from fifth place while Red Bull Racing team-mate Pierre Gasly qualified thirteenth and Verstappen admits the team has been struggling with the car all weekend.
“We have been struggling with the balance of the car this weekend, especially with switching on the softest tyre.
“In qualifying I had a lot of oversteer and the car was sliding when I put the power down, which made it difficult to anticipate what to do in terms of balance and how to approach the corners.”
Having seen his team-mate fail to reach the final part of qualifying, Verstappen was pleased to keep the Haas F1 Team of Kevin Magnussen behind him but disappointed that he had to focus on those behind rather than the Scuderia Ferrari’s and Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport in front.
“My single lap in Q3 was an all or nothing lap and I don’t think I left anything on the table.
“I am of course not happy to be behind Ferrari and Mercedes, but I’m almost pleased to be fifth, because after Q1 and Q2 it looked like we may not be fighting for that.”
Verstappen believes the team will be better in the race on Sunday and feels it will be an interesting race.
“It will be interesting tomorrow and in the race we should be more competitive as our longer runs on the medium tyre have shown good performance so far this weekend.”
