Max Verstappen believes his P4 result in qualifying on Saturday was pretty much the best he could have hoped for given Red Bull's deficit to Mercedes and Ferrari in Brazil.
Despite his encouraging pace in free practice, Verstappen knew beforehand that he would be hard pressed to challenge for pole on a track which clearly favours the two front-running teams.
Lewis Hamilton's demise in Q1 opened up an opportunity however for Red Bull to secure a spot on the second row, which the Dutch driver duly achieved although he remained disappointed.
"Well, I think we maximised the result, but pleased… no, not really.
"All weekend we've just been chasing the car balance and we couldn't get it together. I never expected to beat Ferrari or Mercedes on this track.
"You know, it's simply not our track with the longer straights, but we did the best we could, we maximised the result, but it wasn't good enough."
Verstappen will launch his race with the bit between his teeth as usual but he reckons that may not be enough.
"I do need a bit of luck to be honest," he said.
"The pace on the long run is not good enough but you never what happens in the front."
Queried about his concerns over the reliability of his power unit given Renault's troubled series of failures in the last couple of races, the 20-year-old offered a pragmatic response.
"Not after what happened to me this season," he said.
"Just go for it, flat out. And if it blows up, it blows up!"
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