Max Verstappen: Second Place Start “A positive start to the season”

World Champion Max Verstappen had to settle for a second place start for the season opening Bahrain Grand Prix, after narrowly missing out on pole to Charles Leclerc at the Bahrain International Circuit.

Verstappen was just a tenth away from claiming the first pole of the 2022 season, however the Dutchman struggled with finding the right balance between each Qualifying session. The World Champion would’ve been hoping to have taken the first pole position in the new era of Formula 1, second place though is historically the place to be at Bahrain!

The World Champion has looked flawless all weekend and is still the vast majorities favourite to take the win on Sunday, Verstappen is aware though that the Ferrari’s are very close.

“Overall, it’s not a bad position to be in, of course you always want more but this is a positive start to the season. I think we have a good race car which is important and with it being the start of the season, there are still a lot of things to learn. Q2 was good but Q3 was a bit more hit and miss with not really getting the right balance. There was some oversteer and understeer so you can’t really attack the corner which makes it quite difficult to put that lap together, so that’s something we’ll need to look into.

“The Ferraris are of course very close and it’s going to be a tough battle, they have two strong drivers so it’s going to be exciting. The weather is meant to be warmer tomorrow so it’ll be a bit tougher on the tyres. As a Team we just have to see how competitive we are in the race, it’s a long season and a lot can happen.”

“I think P3 was possible if we had put everything together” – Sergio Pérez

Fourth place was the best Sergio Pérez could manage by the end of qualifying, the Mexican as a result finds himself lining up directly behind his team-mate. Pérez was slightly further off the pace of the Ferrari’s than Verstappen, however the experienced driver does have the potential to be right in the mix for the win on Sunday.

Pérez is known best as being one of the greatest in the paddock at preserving tyres, something which will be key around the Bahrain International Circuit on race day. Starting fourth could possibly work to the Mexican’s favour, if he starts well then he’s likely to get a great slipstream from his Oracle Red Bull Racing team-mate down into Turn 1.

Pérez is feeling confident ahead of the race on Sunday, he does believe though that qualifying slightly higher was on the cards.

“I am optimistic about tomorrow and in the race anything can happen. I just didn’t manage to get one hundred percent out of the car today but we still have a good starting position and I hope we can make up some positions come race day. It is great to have other teams up there to make things more competitive, but it is a long road ahead and what matters is tomorrow.

“I think P3 was possible if we had put everything together and I was able to do that final corner again, I ran a bit too much curb through it. It would have been good to start on the clean side of the grid but a lot of overtaking can happen here and hopefully we are able to fight the Ferraris and have a good race for the fans. I am looking forward to it, I want a strong lap one and strong pace. My goal is to at least get on the podium and get a one, two for the Team. We are in a good position to fight the Ferraris.”

Credit: Lars Baron/ Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool