Either side of the Interlagos wildness, the other final sprint events of the 2024 Formula 1 season bear significant similarities that pile focus on Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and the Ferrari drivers. The key difference between Austin and Qatar, however, is that so far both McLaren and Mercedes have dominated the victory hunt.
The prospect of a four-team win scrap over what is expected to be the first normal grand prix at the Losail circuit since its inaugural 2021 event – Pirelli still hasn’t seen anything like the minuscule sidewall lacerations that so changed race day here last year – is tantalising.
Verstappen had been set to head a GP grid for the first time since June’s Austria round, but his one-place penalty for impeding George Russell on their final preparation laps at the end of Q3 means he will now start second. This could have an additional knock-on impact for his race, given something Russell had been complaining about after starting second in the sprint.
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But before all that, Verstappen had been delighted that Red Bull had pulled off “a miracle” in adapting his car balance compared to sprint qualifying and the weekend’s first race.
“It was all pretty close, but it felt just a lot more connected for me,” Verstappen said of his improved handling in the post-qualifying press conference. “And, yeah, that was definitely necessary. Then you can attack the corners a bit more.”
As well as making what Red Bull team boss Christian Horner called “aggressive” set-up adjustments, Verstappen also significantly altered his qualifying prep lap plans for the second session against the clock.
Instead of going for a flying lap after two warm-up tours, from Q2 onwards yesterday, Verstappen was pushing after one prep lap, then backing off for two cooldown tours before going again for his pukka effort. The Dutchman used this arrangement to set his best times in heading both Q2 and Q3, having not done so and looked fairly ordinary in Q1, 0.3s back from Russell’s best at that stage.
Verstappen’s times had appeared somewhat ordinary compared to Russell’s in Q1
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
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