F1 | Sakhir GP | Verstappen: "We have nothing to lose tomorrow"
Max Verstappen is satisfied despite his 3rd position and believes he can do his best for tomorrow's night race at Bahrain's outer track ...
Aston Martin Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen will be starting from the top three for the 13th time this season, although he's yet to score a pole position.
"From our side, we had a good qualifying," he told the media immediately after the end of qualifying. "The lap itself as well, it's a very short lap and not many corners.
Verstappen was just 0.056s off pole sitter Valtteri Bottas at the end of Q3 under the night skies.
"I'm pleased to get near, to be in P3," said the Dutchman. "I tried to be as close as I can today. It was a bit closer than normal, but I think the layout explains that as well."
“Close, but not quite close enough. We can be happy about qualifying, and although we always want more, for us to be P3 on a track like this is pretty good. The gap is very close and it is a bit of a shame to miss out by so little. On such a short lap it was always going to be very tight but I think I got the most out of the lap. For sure both of the Mercedes cars will be quick tomorrow.
Max who has won one race this season in a slower car than Mercedes talked about super sub George Russell's performance in qualifying saying:
"George is a good driver so we need to take care of both cars to try and win. We are starting on a different tyre to them so it will be interesting to see how it’s going to play out and the start will be very important. Like I’ve said before, we’ve got nothing to lose so it’s better to have a bit of fun tomorrow and see what we can do. I’m looking forward to it.”
"Of course tomorrow we will be starting on different tyres, so this will be quite interesting in how it's going to play out for us," he added.
"We have nothing to lose, so it's better to have a bit of fun tomorrow and see what we can do.
"The lap times are so close, it will depend on starts and traffic management but it’s not going to be easy
Unfortunately, Verstappen's Red Bull teammate Alex Albon had a poor qualifying and didn't reach the final part of qualifying. He'll be lining up in 12th place on the grid for the start of the race.
