After claiming his sixth pole position of the 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Max Verstappen has spoken on his surprise to be leading the pack into turn one for Sunday’s Mexican Grand Prix.
Oracle Red Bull Racing had feared that the nature of the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez would not suit the characteristics of the RB18 and after the Dutchmen had finished behind both Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team cars in Qualifying One and Two, it had indeed appeared that Red Bull and Max Verstappen would not be contending for pole position.
However, come the time of Qualifying Three and the two-time world champion stepped up and put his RB18 on provisional pole by over a tenth of a second to George Russell. Verstappen would improve his original time by just under two tenths of a second and it would prove to be enough to claim pole position after both Mercedes cars would fall marginally short of Verstappen’s time.
Speaking after qualifying, Verstappen attributed his pole position to a number of late changes to the setup of his RB18 after practice.
“To be on pole here is amazing. It was a tricky start to qualifying as the track was a bit warmer than FP3, I didn’t expect to be on pole here. Around this track it’s hard to nail a lap and we’ve been struggling to find a good balance in the car. After practice we made quite a few adjustments and we got into a better rhythm.”
Despite the long run into turn one at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Verstappen remains confident that he can bring home his fourteenth win of the season in Mexico City on Sunday.
“Looking ahead to tomorrow, it’s a long run into to turn one so we need a good start, I think we have a quick car and that’s what is most important. It’s incredible to see the passion of all the fans here, it will be good to have Checo up there with me tomorrow, I hope we can have a fun race with a lot of action.”
Sergio Perez: “Fourth isn’t where I wanted to be, we could have been a lot higher”
While his teammate was able to secure pole position, Sergio Perez has reflected on a missed opportunity in qualifying after the home crowd favourite spoke on how an electrical issue hampered his chance to contend for pole position.
An electrical issue for Perez saw him without any reference on his lap times and without any information on his brake balance. Despite the issues with his RB18, Perez spoke on how he was proud to avoid an early exit from qualifying and still contend for pole position despite the issues.
“We had an electrical issue from the beginning of qualifying – it meant I had no reference on lap times, no DRS zones and no information on my brake balance, I had to do everything myself. It was tricky because I was pretty much blind in qualifying, I didn’t know where I was through the lap and it was a big mess for me. But if I look back, I was about to get knocked out in Q1 and Q2 because of the problem, so to come this close to pole is good in the circumstances.“
Perez would finish fourth fastest in Q3, just three and a half tenths of the time set by Max Verstappen. With the long run into turn one ahead of him for Sunday’s Grand Prix, Perez believes that with a ‘massive start’ behind him, he can also contend for the race victory in front of his home crowd.
“P4 isn’t where I wanted to be, we could have been a lot higher, P3 would have been ideal. It is what it is though, we just have to look forward to tomorrow and try to have the perfect race, the atmosphere is amazing and we need to come back stronger. I will require a massive start but I still believe it is possible tomorrow. I am aware of all the effort people are putting into supporting me this weekend, it is a massive feeling to race at home.”
