Verstappen optimistic for Sunday despite strategy switch

Red Bull's Max Verstappen believes there's still all to play for in Sunday's German Grand Prix, after he qualified for the race on the second row.

He will line-up for the race in fourth place alongside Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, and said that it was the best outcome that he felt had been possible on Saturday.

"You have to be realistic," he said. "When you're lacking so much horsepower, it's not going to solve itself. Fourth is the best we could do.

"The car is quick, and we're starting forward so a lot is possible," he added. "Hopefully we can be a bit closer than of course what we were in qualifying, but I'm confident we can be.

The temperatures are also going to be a bit different from Friday practice, so it's still a bit of a guesser - for everyone."

Verstappen's intended race strategy of starting on soft tyres ended up being disrupted by a red flag during the second round of qualifying.

It followed an off-road excursion for Sauber's Marcus Ericsson, who trailed gravel back on to the track as he recovered.

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After a brief pause, race control felt that the gravel represented a threat to the drivers on high speed. They decided to pause proceedings while track workers cleaned up the mess.

Unfortunately it came as the worst possible time for Verstappen, who was on a flying lap run on a set of soft compound tyres at the time. He had no choice but to break off and return to pit lane.

The time he had set up to that point would not have been enough to see him through to Q3, and so the team had no choice but to send him back out for another run - this time on the ultrasoft tyres.

"Because of the red flag I had to abort," he said. "We didn't want to take the risk to maybe lose out on Q3."

Verstappen's run was good enough for second at the end of the round - which means he has to start the race on the same set of ultras.

"Looking back at it we could have qualified on the soft," he said, adding that he felt it might even prove the stronger choice after all.

"Everybody is starting on an ultra," he said. "So I think also in terms of start performance it will be better to be on the ultra."

Verstappen's team mate Daniel Ricciardo has a much bigger task ahead of him in the race. He will be starting from the back ow as a result of power unit grid penalties.

It meant there was little point in the Australian taking part in the qualifying session. However, he did set the ninth fastest time in Q1 before deciding to sit out the rest of qualifying.

"We’re starting last tomorrow no matter what, so by not taking part in Q2 means we have a choice of which tyre to start the race with," he explained.

"If we had done Q2 then whichever tyre we went on, we would have to start the race on. This decision has given us a bit more freedom and we can decide what looks best for tomorrow and save some mileage on the car.

"I've had time to digest the penalty, so I'm just thinking of the excitement I'll have starting from the back," Ricciardo quipped.

"There's some fun to be had for sure," he added. "Depending on how fast I can come through the pack will determine whether I can make it a one stop.

"I think we need a little bit of luck to get a podium, it’s a long shot but it’s never impossible.

"It’s probably going to be doubly entertaining with Lewis now also starting towards the back too, so both of us coming through the field should make for a good race."

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