Third place in Formula 1 qualifying in Las Vegas becomes second place on the grid for the Grand Prix due to the penalty against Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz. But Red Bull driver Max Verstappen is anything but enthusiastic about his move up the starting grid. Because it means: He starts the race on the “wrong” side of the road.
“I think it’s a bit like the first race in Austin: the inside was bad. That’s not ideal. That’s why I was actually hoping to be fourth,” explains Verstappen. From P4 he would have moved up to P3 and would have been on the clean side of the starting grid.
But that’s not how it happened in Las Vegas “and we have to deal with it,” says Verstappen. “It is what it is and fortunately the way to the first corner is not that long. But if you have a bad start you can still lose a lot of positions.”
But Verstappen says he doesn’t “think too much” about possible race outcomes. “You have to get into the race first. If there are opportunities, then you do something with it and try to get the best out of your material. The long runs on Thursday looked good. Hopefully that’s the same in the race.”
Verstappen is relying on better tire wear
“On Saturday it’s all about protecting the tires. There’s a lot of graining here. Hopefully we’ll have an advantage or at least a chance against Ferrari.”
Red Bull sports director Helmut Marko thinks similarly and believes that the Grand Prix in Las Vegas will be “decided on tire wear”, i.e. in a discipline that Red Bull is generally better at than Ferrari this year.
Another trend in the 2023 Formula 1 season is Ferrari’s good qualifying form, which is underlined by Charles Leclerc’s recent pole position. The defeat in Las Vegas “actually wasn’t” a surprise for Red Bull, says team boss Christian Horner on Sky.
Reason: “We had already seen on Thursday that Ferrari was very fast over one lap. The Ferrari seems to be pushing the tires harder.” This is worthwhile in the time trial in qualifying, but not so much in the race.
Red Bull wants to be able to overtake in the race
And Red Bull believes it is well positioned for the race: “We have carried out some renovation work and increased the top speed,” says Marko on Sky. He is therefore “optimistic” for Saturday in Las Vegas.
Basically, says Verstappen, Red Bull has already “maximized our performance” on the new street circuit. It only became apparent in qualifying that “some power” was missing over a fast lap.
Expressed in numbers: Verstappen needed 1:33.104 minutes for his best attempt and was 0.378 seconds behind pole man Leclerc in the Ferrari and 0.334 seconds behind his teammate Sainz, who lost ten places on the starting grid.
The Red Bull deficit against Ferrari in qualifying
Where does Verstappen lose time in comparison? Especially in the tight corners in the first and third sectors. This emerges from the analysis by F1 Tempo. Because after turn 1, Verstappen is two tenths behind Leclerc, and after turn 5 it is even three and a half for a short time. Afterwards, Verstappen pulls almost evenly with the Ferrari driver, but clearly loses again on the long straight and in the chicane.
The Red Bull deficit compared to Ferrari became “clear” in qualifying, says Verstappen. “The bottom line is that we were too slow, but I was actually happy with my laps in Q3. Compared to Q2, I improved in practically every corner and I couldn’t do much more.” In fact: Verstappen gained four tenths for Q3, but that wasn’t enough against Ferrari.
At this point, Verstappen also refers to a short-term modification to the rear wing of his RB19 and says: “That’s probably why it took a while until I found a good rhythm.” Afterwards, his car felt “okay,” but it “wasn’t [schnell] “enough” against Ferrari.