Max Verstappen had a less-than-ideal qualifying session at the Circuit of the Americas, landing him a sixth-place starting position for the race.
Max Verstappen has explained his ‘misjudgement’ that led to him losing pole position in United States Grand Prix qualifying.
The Red Bull driver locked-up into the first corner at the Circuit of the Americas and ran wide, forcing him to increase his attack on the remainder of the lap as Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc moved onto provisional pole position.
Another mistake came Verstappen’s way at Turn 19 when he ran wide on the exit and across the white lines, resulting in his lap time – which was fast enough for the top spot – being deleted.
“I knew that it was going to be a close call,” said Verstappen.
“I made a little mistake in Turn 1, so I had to really push for it in the rest of the lap. It’s fine margins, I didn’t even understeer, I just tried to maximize the corner and I misjudged it by a little bit.
“It’s very fine margins when you are pushing to the limit. A bit unfortunate, but it also makes the Sunday a bit more fun.”
Max Verstappen aiming to enjoy race
With the title secured last time out in Qatar, Verstappen has insisted he will aim to enjoy his work while recovering position in the race.
“I mean it’s probably not ideal, but I also started further back [this year],” explained Verstappen, pointing to his lowly starting slot.
“If you have good pace, you will pass, you will move forward.
“We keep an eye on it, but first is the Sprint day of course. We’ll see how that goes. We want to win, so for sure qualifying was not ideal.
“It’s still a long race, there are a lot of things we can do better and [I want to] have a bit of fun out there as well.”
