Verstappen belittles Lewis Hamilton sprint 'pole' that “doesn't mean anything”

British Grand Prix

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Verstappen belittles Hamilton sprint 'pole' that “doesn't mean anything”

Red Bull driver unconcerned to miss out on top spot at Silverstone

Will Gray

Friday 16 July 2021 20:24 Updated: 20:48

Max Verstappen claimed that losing out to Lewis Hamilton in Friday’s qualifying for the British Grand Prix's new sprint race did “not mean anything.”

Verstappen missed out on the top spot in the Friday evening session by just 0.075s as Mercedes driver Hamilton took the cheers of the crowd, but the Red Bull driver remained unconcerned and is confident of chasing a ‘real’ pole on Saturday.

Verstappen said: “It’s a bit of a weird feeling, to be honest. You do qualifying, you go flat out and actually it doesn’t mean anything in terms of, you know, pole position feeling.

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“We will see tomorrow. I think we have a strong race car, we just need to fix a bit the issues we had in qualifying. I am quite confident still that we can have a strong race.”

Verstappen – Red Bull must “look at ourselves”

The teams had just one practice session to prepare for the Friday evening session, which resulted in one of the tightest and most nail-biting qualifyings for some time.

Verstappen confirmed he is still not certain of his car’s handling ahead of the sprint, but there is now one more practice session before that event in which he will have time to improve the car.

He said: “We just need to look at ourselves because I think the car itself was actually handling quite well but just a lot of understeer so I couldn’t really attack any corners, just waiting for the front to grip up.

“[It was] a bit of a weird feeling to be honest to drive because I don’t think it was set-up or front-wing related, but it is what it is. We are still quite close, so it’s alright.”