Max Verstappen was delighted by the results of qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix, which saw him claim pole position for the first time at the venue by almost four tenths of a second over his rivals.
The result confirmed the impressive pace showed by Red Bull in pre-season testing two weeks ago, and Verstappen's dominance of the three practice sessions on Friday and Saturday afternoon.
“We already had a great test week and there are no guarantees, but then we came back for the race weekend," he told the media in parc ferme after the end of the session. "The whole week the car has been working well and been enjoyable to drive.
"Of course with the wind changing a lot around every session, it’s not easy to set up the car," he said. “The track is quite hot, so you have to be careful with not overheating the rear tyres.
"Luckily when we managed, we could perform," he added. "It all worked out perfectly in qualifying, so of course I’m very happy with pole position."
Verstappen had been neck and neck with Hamilton after his first Q3 run, but he hadn't been too worried when he set off on his final run of the evening.
"Basically my first lap in Q3 wasn’t amazing so I knew there was more in it," he explained. “You never know how much, but finally the balance was there and then you can push a little more."
He thanked the team for all its hard work over the off-season: “A big credit to them for the result today, they had a great winter.
"I think the turnaround has been very good and their understanding of the engine I think is impressive, and it's really enjoyable to work with them as well.
"They're really passionate and emotional, which I like," he added. "They are just flat-out all the time. They want to win, and you can really see that.”
Verstappen also dedicated his pole success to former Red Bull driver David Coulthard who was conducting the official post-session interviews, calling it "a great start and a nice birthday present to you” as he presented the Scot with a chocolate cake - right in the face!
"To start like this is really great," he subsequently told Dutch broadcaster Ziggo Sport. "I haven't experienced that at Red Bull, so I'm very happy with it.
"Obviously we have to have a good start tomorrow, that's important too," he continued. "Hopefully after the first lap we can do our thing and it's good enough. So far everything has actually gone very well.
"You can also see that the team got a bit of a lift after that win in Abu Dhabi. That's paying off now."
Team principal Christian Horner also revealed that Verstappen had been lucky to escape serious damage to the RB16B after running wide over the kerbs at turn 2 in the opening round of qualifying.
“He smacked the bottom of the car pretty hard. Because they run so low we’ve lost a couple of bits of carbon under the front of the car there,” he told Sky Sports F1.
“Maybe he’s carrying about a tenth’s-worth of damage through the rest of the sessions," he added. "You think in the first one through Q1 where it’s not that impressive, you think ‘Oh no!’ but he handled that incredibly well.”
However things were not so upbeat for Verstappen's new team mate Sergio Perez who failed to make it into the pole shoot-out round after having his first Q2 time deleted for exceeding track limits. He will start from 11th on the grid tomorrow.
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