Max Verstappen set the fourth fastest time in the rain during qualifying for Saturday’s sprint in Shanghai. The current world champion explained this because he could not warm up the tires on a wet track.
His teammate Sergio Perez set the sixth fastest time and will start the sprint together with Carlos Sainz from the third row.
Max Verstappen (4th): “The track was incredibly slippery and I had serious problems warming the tires to operating temperature. That’s why it was difficult for me to keep the car on the track; it felt like I was driving on ice.
I think the result is more or less deserved, because I didn’t succeed on the wet track, although we looked quite competitive on the dry asphalt, which I’m happy with.
Tomorrow there are opportunities to make up for it in the sprint. Of course I don’t have the most ideal starting position – on my side of the grid the grip on the track is much lower. But I’m going to try to start as best as I can.
Tomorrow we have to drive quite a distance on one set of tires, but I think it will be interesting.”
Sergio Perez (6th): “At first everything looked great, but on the last fast lap I was hampered by traffic and rivals who were just preparing for their attempts. Unfortunately, this prevented me from taking the last corner correctly, I couldn’t hold on and went off the track.
As a result, I couldn’t get a front row starting position for the sprint, but we are in good form this weekend. From the very beginning I felt confident behind the wheel and the car is fast in all conditions. I think we are competitive and the situation looks promising.”
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
