The Dutch driver thus achieved the 41st pole position of his F1 career, the ninth this season, and celebrated: ‘I’m very happy to be on pole, it’s been a long time’
The Dutch driver (Red Bull), who won his fourth world championship last week in Las Vegas, will start in pole position at the Formula 1 Qatar Grand Prix, after being the fastest in the classification held this Saturday (30) , on the Lusail circuit. Verstappen finished ahead of Britons George Russell (Mercedes) and Lando Norris (McLaren).
The Dutchman thus achieved the 41st pole position of his F1 career, the ninth this season, but he had not achieved such a result since the Austrian GP, at the end of June. “It’s crazy. I really didn’t expect this, congratulations to the team for giving me a much better car. We made some changes to the car after the sprint race, but I didn’t think it would be as good. I’m very happy to be on pole, it’s been a long time,” celebrated Verstappen.
Russell, who won in Las Vegas and finished third in the sprint held on Saturday afternoon, came close to taking pole, but the four-time Red Bull champion beat his time in the final moments by just 55 thousandths of a second. McLaren, who did one-two in the sprint, once again got the better of Ferrari and remains ahead in the fight for the constructors’ championship title.
Norris and his teammate, Australian Oscar Piastri, will start in third and fourth positions, while the Ferrari drivers, Monegasque Charles Leclerc and Spaniard Carlos Sainz, will be fifth and seventh, respectively, separated by the British Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), sixth. Spanish veteran Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin), who is expected to reach the symbolic milestone of 400 Grand Prix starts on Sunday, a record, will start in eighth position. The Top 10 is completed by Mexican Sergio Pérez (Red Bull) and Danish Kevin Magnussen (Haas).
*With information from AFP
Posted by Carolina Ferreira
