Max Verstappen annoyed with Red Bull Q3 strategy after almost losing pole to Lando Norris

Verstappen, Austria, Red Bull — Photo: © LAT Images

Austrian Grand Prix

Verstappen annoyed with Red Bull Q3 strategy after almost losing pole to Norris

Verstappen lines up alongside Norris on the front row

Ewan Gale

Saturday 3 July 2021 16:35

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Max Verstappen lamented his Q3 performance after narrowly claiming pole position for the Austrian Grand Prix.

The Dutchman clinched the top spot by just 0.048secs over McLaren's Lando Norris, with Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez directly behind him in third and championship rival Lewis Hamilton mustering only fourth in his Mercedes.

Despite being in prime position for the race tomorrow with two cars between both himself and both Mercedes drivers, Verstappen was left angry with how the session panned out.

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In front of tens of thousands of fans cheering him on, Verstappen was first on track for the final run and was audibly frustrated on team radio at the conclusion of his lap, suggesting they were "never doing that again" and they would "talk about it later".

"Q3 was pretty bad," he said. "I am not very... I am happy, of course, to be first but not in the way we got it so something to look into. Twice on pole here is very good so hopefully, we can finish it off tomorrow.

"We've softer [tyre] compounds compared to last week so it will be tough to manage those in the race but besides that just try to focus on our own race and we will try to win it but it is never straightforward."

Perez worked "harder than you might think" for P3

Perez had struggled across the weekend, remaining around half a second down on Verstappen throughout practice.

When he most needed it, however, the Mexican pulled through to outqualify both Mercedes and give Red Bull the strategic advantage ahead of the race.

"Well, it has been a really hard weekend up to now," conceded Perez. "We have been chasing the balance a lot and just exploring the car in those areas, just chipping away every single run.

"It didn't come easy. It was very hard work, harder than you might think but in the end, we got a good lap and a good starting position for tomorrow because in the end, I think tomorrow we have a better race car than in quali."