Red Bull pulled off a dramatic turnaround in Saturday’s Qatar GP qualifying, with Max Verstappen clinching pole position for Sunday’s race at the Lusil International Circuit.
This achievement came after what team principal Christian Horner described as throwing the “kitchen sink” at the team’sRB20 to transform its set-up between Saturday’s Sprint event and the evening’s grid-defining session.
Verstappen’s struggles began during Friday’s Sprint shootout, where he managed only sixth on the grid, and continued in today’s Sprint race, where a poor opening lap relegated him to eighth.
Frustrated with a car he described as having a "terrible" balance in the short-form race, the four-time world champion Verstappen was desperate for improvement.
When parc fermé regulations opened after the sprint, Red Bull seized the opportunity to overhaul the RB20. Changes focused on optimizing the car for Qatar’s cooler evening conditions and addressing its weaknesses in Lusail’s key corners, according to Horner.
"It's a great turnaround. I think the engineers and the team back in Milton Keynes have worked very hard," the Briton told Sky F1.
"They've got a good set-up on the car, Max has immediately felt [more confident] - his first comment was that it feels better. And then he's just gone out and delivered in the most spectacular way.
"We pretty much threw the kitchen sink at it; pretty much everything you could change, we did change.
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"You never know if it's all going to come together in the balance. And it did, and he was able to really nail it.
“We really struggled yesterday, Turn 1, Turn 2, and particularly the last turn; a little bit at seven as well. And those corners suddenly came alive for us.”
The changes - a few of which were trialed on Sergio Perez's car in the Sprint race - were immediately apparent, with Verstappen praising the improved balance and stability of the car.
"I didn't expect that; well done to the team to give me a car that feels a bit more connected,” commented Verstappen.
“Once the car is a bit more together, you can push also harder and it felt a lot better out there in qualifying for me.
"We did change a bit on the car, but I never thought it would make such a swing in performance. So that's promising. I hope it also lasts more in the race.
"I don't know that yet, but it just felt already a lot more stable over one lap, and that's exactly what we need.”
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Despite his success in qualifying, Verstappen is cautious about Sunday’s race. Qatar’s Losail circuit, characterized by long-radius corners, is notoriously tough on tyres, particularly the front-left.
“It's going to be a tough race physically, but I think also mainly on the tyres just making sure that you're good on them,” he added.
"The front left around here gets eaten up quite a lot. It's all about managing that tomorrow. I hope that with the set-up we have on the car now, it will be a bit better."
Verstappen’s pole position wasn’t a given until the final moments of Q3.
“That last lap, it was neck and neck with George going into that last turn and he nailed the last corner, and it was just good enough,” Horner said.
With Red Bull back on form, all eyes will be on Verstappen and the RB20 to see if their bold changes can withstand the grueling demands of Sunday’s race.
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