'Unfortunate' qualifying leaves Verstappen keen for US GP

Having been crowned 2023 world championship during the Qatar Grand Prix weekend, Friday saw a less than vintage performance from Max Verstappen who will start Sunday's United States GP from sixth place on the grid.

The day had been going according to plan with Verstappen quicker than anyone in the sole practice session, a tenth and a half faster than his Ferrari rival Charles Leclerc.

But unusually, the Red Bull driver wasn't quickest in any of the three rounds of qualifying later in the day, and a rare combination of misjudgements in Q3 cost him a chance of starting the race on the front row.

“It was a shame to miss out on pole with my deleted lap but I knew in turn 19 it would be a close call," he admitted afterwards.

"I made a mistake in turn 1 so I had to really push for the rest of the lap, I didn't understeer or anything, I just really tried to maximise the corner and I misjudged it.

• Read also: Leclerc on pole for United States GP as Verstappen falters

"Margins are very fine when you are pushing to the limit," he acknowledged. "Of course, it's unfortunate but it makes the Sunday race more enjoyable."

“It looked like we were going to get pole today," commented team principal Christian Horner. "But then a small lock up at turn 1 put Max on the back foot so he had to give it absolutely everything. He tried, but unfortunately we didn’t quite do it today."

Verstappen clearly still thinks he can win the grand Prix despite the compromised grid position - and he's done it before in a season dominated by Red Bull. But before then there is Saturday's Sprint Showdown and Sprint race.

"Now our focus turns to the Sprint race tomorrow," Verstappen commented. "We want to win that - and the race on Sunday. It's a long weekend and a lot can happen, I'm going to have some fun out, there that's for sure."

Meanwhile the spotlight is on his team mate Sergio Perez who is battling to beat Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton to the runner-up spot in the drivers championship.

He'll start Sunday's main race from P98, with Hamilton having finished qualifying in P3 putting the Silver Arrow on the second row of the grid.

"It wasn’t a straightforward one out there today," Perez commented. "I was struggling with the balance from low speed to high speed, especially in the low speed.

"We had made some changes that probably didn’t help us in the way we thought," he admitted. "The margins were so tight today that a tenth would have made your qualifying so different, but we are on the wrong side of it.

"Hopefully tomorrow we have a better Sprint Shootout and then get some points on the board. We are expecting some changes in the conditions, there will be a lot of wind around."

Checo struggled with balance slightly but it was tight margins with not a lot in it but it will make for an interesting race on Sunday," contributed Horner.

"We start from P6 and P9 for the race which makes things a little harder for us, but there is always an opportunity for victory and we look forward to seeing what Sunday brings."

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