Max Verstappen said he was not fully expecting to be able to take pole position in the first qualifying of the 2024 season in Bahrain.
The world champion secured the first pole position of the season – and the 33rd of his career – at the Bahrain International Circuit, two tenths of a second ahead of Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari.
Although Red Bull dominated the 2023 season and had many of their rivals tipping them to be the team to beat again this season, Verstappen says he was not expecting to be able to resume where he left off last year.
“It was a lot of fun, actually,” Verstappen said. “The track had a lot of grip, but with the wind the last few days it has been quite tricky to get the whole lap together and it was the same in qualifying.
“Q1, Q2, of course you can actually go a bit faster with the track ramping up, but then to really get everything out of it in Q3 was a little more difficult. But of course, very happy to be on pole. To be honest, it was a little bit unexpected. But luckily in qualifying, I think the car came to us and I felt a bit happier with the whole car.”
Despite not leading any of the three practice sessions across the weekend, Verstappen says Red Bull’s set-up adjustments on Friday appeared to pay off.
“I said it yesterday, we just needed to fine tune a few little things on the car to try and get that, let’s say, perfect balance – even though with the wind, that is not possible today,” he explained.
“But luckily I think we went in the right direction today. We could really push a bit more with the car and luckily then another step in qualifying.”
Starting from pole position in Bahrain for the second consecutive season, Verstappen says he has confidence heading into the opening race of the championship.
“I think in the race, it’s going to be close as well,” he said.
“We do look good in the race and that’s, of course, the most important. But we’ll see tomorrow. I’m confident that we can have a strong race.”
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2024 Bahrain Grand Prix
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