Red Bull 'not a lawnmower' after grassy moment costs Verstappen pole

Max Verstappen joked his Red Bull was "not suited" to being a lawnmower despite Honda's prowess in the sector after running across the grass in Emilia Romagna Grand Prix qualifying.

The Dutchman ran wide at Tamburello on his final lap in Q3, costing himself the chance of pole position at Imola and eventually finishing third behind Lewis Hamilton by 0.087secs and team-mate Sergio Perez.

Verstappen had no excuses for the mistake and vowed to get to the bottom of why he made the error.

"It was all coming along nicely but in Q3, the final run, I just didn't have a good lap," said Verstappen. "I went off at turn three with two wheels.

"I know that Honda makes good lawnmowers but I don't think this one [the car] is suited for that. At least I tried but it was a scrappy lap.

"I haven't had one in a long time so we just need to understand why that happens. Otherwise, we were very close."

While Verstappen will be disappointed to have been out-qualified by a team-mate for the first time since Daniel Ricciardo left Red Bull at the end of 2018, Perez's display has provided the team with an opportunity to take a strategy war to Mercedes.

"We have two cars close to Lewis on different tyres so hopefully that will give some excitement tomorrow," he added.

"[Long run pace] seems alright. I didn't do any long runs but we will have a look at it. It is hard to overtake here so we will see what we can do."

On whether he could see an improvement in Mercedes, Verstappen commented: "It is always difficult to say but from what I can see, it all seems a bit more predictable and under control on onboard."

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