20/04/2025 12:50
Max Verstappen has expressed belief he will not be in a position to
enjoy a comfortable run to the chequered flag at the Saudi Arabian
Grand Prix. Verstappen is seeking his second win of the season on
Sunday in Jeddah following a sensational pole position effort on
Saturday. The Dutchman endured a difficult event last time out in
Bahrain and was a non-player in the fight for victory, with
McLaren's Oscar Piastri sealing the win one week ago. Piastri will
line up alongside Verstappen on the front row and will look to
challenge the four-time champion for the win. A key strength of
McLaren this year has been its tyre life and long-run consistency -
an area Verstappen feels Red Bull is deficient in for the upcoming
race. "Our long runs haven't been great so far," Verstappen told
media including RacingNews365 . "Naturally, with how the car was
reacting [on Saturday], it will be a bit better. "But I don't think
it'll be enough to be super competitive, especially on the medium.
I don't know on the hard, I haven't touched it. "It just shows
that when it gets a bit warmer, like FP3, that's where we are
really lacking. In the race, you stabilise with a high temperature,
and that's where in general most teams are struggling more. "That
will be the same tomorrow. Let's see how good or bad we'll be."
Verstappen took extra risk in final Q3 lap Verstappen narrowly
outpaced Piastri by 0.010s en route to pole position, the closest
gap between the top two in qualifying since Hungary, 2023.
Verstappen acknowledged he learned from his mistake at the Jeddah
circuit in 2021 after looking on course for a pole effort amid a
tense title fight with Lewis Hamilton before making a mistake at
the final corner. The high-intensity Q3 session in Jeddah caught
out Lando Norris in the second McLaren, who crashed during his
first hot lap of the segment. Having navigated the session without
a mistake of his own, Verstappen asserted he put it all on the line
to get himself into a competitive position for the grand prix. "I
think at the end of the day, you just need to try and have a clean
lap, try to be on the limit," he said. "But around here, honestly,
it's super hard because some corners, like, you want to try and be
super close to the wall. Sometimes it works out. Sometimes it
doesn't. "Braking into 22 is very bumpy, so you don't even see
where you're going when you turn in. So it's very hard to get
everything right. "Clearly, it was good enough. Of course, in Q3,
you risk everything a bit more."
