Verstappen claimed a 13-second victory over Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton in the 19-lap Shanghai sprint, before also claiming a dominant pole for Sunday’s grand prix.
A long-time opponent of the sprint format, Verstappen said he was happier with his pole position than his sprint victory, although he conceded that its revamped format with two separate parc ferme periods was a big improvement.
“It’s a more logical and nicer format,” Verstappen said. “I was always happier with the pole than with the sprint race, of course.
Explaining his opinion to Sky Sports F1, Verstappen added: “I thought it was better than what we had, just that we could also make some changes to the car after the sprint.
“The only thing that was a little weird was that you did a race and then went back to qualifying. [mode].
“Maybe we should do qualifying and then the race. I don’t know but maybe it’s just things to tweak. But overall it’s definitely better than what we had before.”
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Verstappen said he and his race engineer opted to change the Red Bull RB20’s settings ahead of qualifying and Sunday’s race, despite its dominant sprint victory.
“After the sprint race it gave us some more ideas for the car and I think the car worked even better in qualifying now,” he explained.
“It definitely gives you a better idea of the degradation, what to look at, what to work on.
“The wind direction will change again tomorrow, so the balance of the car in some corners will still be a little different. But I think if the car is only half as good as it was in the sprint, I think that everything will be fine for us.”
Verstappen set a new milestone for Red Bull by claiming the team’s 100th F1 pole position, with the Dutchman responsible for 37 of them.
“Before jumping in the car, Christian [Horner] told me if I got pole today it would be number 100 for the team,” he said.
“It’s an incredible achievement for the whole team. Of course, there is also a great contribution from Seb [Vettel] at the time. But yes, fantastic.”
Additional reporting by Erwin Jaeggi
Verstappen claimed a 13-second victory over Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton in the 19-lap Shanghai sprint, before also claiming a dominant pole for Sunday’s grand prix.
A long-time opponent of the sprint format, Verstappen said he was happier with his pole position than his sprint victory, although he conceded that its revamped format with two separate parc ferme periods was a big improvement.
“It’s a more logical and nicer format,” Verstappen said. “I was always happier with the pole than with the sprint race, of course.
Explaining his opinion to Sky Sports F1, Verstappen added: “I thought it was better than what we had, just that we could also make some changes to the car after the sprint.
“The only thing that was a little weird was that you did a race and then went back to qualifying. [mode].
“Maybe we should do qualifying and then the race. I don’t know but maybe it’s just things to tweak. But overall it’s definitely better than what we had before.”
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Verstappen said he and his race engineer opted to change the Red Bull RB20’s settings ahead of qualifying and Sunday’s race, despite its dominant sprint victory.
“After the sprint race it gave us some more ideas for the car and I think the car worked even better in qualifying now,” he explained.
“It definitely gives you a better idea of the degradation, what to look at, what to work on.
“The wind direction will change again tomorrow, so the balance of the car in some corners will still be a little different. But I think if the car is only half as good as it was in the sprint, I think that everything will be fine for us.”
Verstappen set a new milestone for Red Bull by claiming the team’s 100th F1 pole position, with the Dutchman responsible for 37 of them.
“Before jumping in the car, Christian [Horner] told me if I got pole today it would be number 100 for the team,” he said.
“It’s an incredible achievement for the whole team. Of course, there is also a great contribution from Seb [Vettel] at the time. But yes, fantastic.”
Additional reporting by Erwin Jaeggi