"Okay, yeah. Not really fast. See you tomorrow.”: Max Verstappen's dejected team radio after the F1 Qatar GP sprint qualifying
Max Verstappen failed to grab the pole at the Qatar Grand Prix Sprint qualifying. His title rival Lando Norris of McLaren finished first ahead of Mercedes' George Russell and his teammate, Oscar Piastri. Following the conclusion of SQ3, Verstappen took to his team radio to share his feedback.
Formula 1 is in Qatar for the penultimate race weekend of the 2024 season, and the final Sprint race weekend of this year. After Friday's practice session, drivers lined up to participate in Sprint qualifying ahead of Saturday's Sprint.
Norris was the fastest of all, as the British driver managed a brilliant 1:21.012 on the timesheet. He was faster by over six-hundredths of a second from Russell and over one-and-a-half tenths from Piastri.
Verstappen, who clinched the drivers' championship last weekend in Las Vegas, managed 1:21.315, and was over three-tenths slower than Norris. As a result, he qualified in P6 for the Sprint.
Following his P6 outcome, Verstappen took to the team radio as his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase told him the times achieved by Norris, Russell, and Piastri. Here's what Verstappen said:
"Okay, yeah. Not... Not really fast. See you tomorrow."
Verstappen's teammate Sergio Perez faced yet another SQ1 exit in the Sprint qualifying as he failed to make amends to help his team in the constructors' championship. Perez was out in P16 after he failed to get the better of Kevin Magnussen of Haas, who made it through to SQ2.
Max Verstappen revealed his drawback after a subpar qualifying
Max Verstappen touched upon the issues he faced during Sprint qualifying, which hindered his pace, and as a result, he managed P6. Speaking about this in the post-qualifying interview, the Red Bull driver said:
"We just don't have the pace. I don't really have the balance to attack entry mid corner."
Red Bull was slower in the medium corners, something team principal Christian Horner spoke about during his post-qualifying interview. He stated that his team needs to work on it before the race.
Red Bull currently trails leaders McLaren and Ferrari in the constructors' championship. After the Sprint qualifying where McLaren starts in P1, and P3, and Ferrari starts in P4 and P5 (Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc), one can expect the two teams to pull further away from Red Bull after the Sprint.