Verstappen focuses on taking advantage of Hamilton penalty after Red Bull "recovery"

Turkish Grand Prix

Verstappen focuses on taking advantage of Hamilton penalty after Red Bull "recovery"

Verstappen will start second after qualifying third

Ewan Gale

Saturday 9 October 2021 15:20 Updated: 15:24

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Max Verstappen has praised the turnaround performed by Red Bull after qualifying third fastest for the Turkish Grand Prix.

The Dutchman had struggled for balance throughout Friday practice but was able to cut the difference to Lewis Hamilton to three-tenths in Q3.

Verstappen will start second by virtue of his title rival's 10-place engine penalty, with Hamilton's Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas on pole.

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"In the beginning, it was quite tricky in the conditions but compared to yesterday, we actually managed to turn it around quite well," said Verstappen.

"The laps overall were quite good even though on the last lap, we lost a bit down the straight. We will have to look into that but there was of course not the lap time in it to fight for pole.

"Overall, a decent recovery compared to yesterday, third was the maximum today but tomorrow, lining up in second, let's wait and see what the weather will do overnight but overall I am really happy."

Red Bull set up should be "a bit better" in race

The set up changes proved fruitful in the wetter conditions during final practice with the times set in qualifying validating the tweaks.

With Verstappen needing to win to take full advantage of Hamilton's penalty, he suggested the changes overnight should help the car perform better over a race distance.

"It should be a bit better, lets see how competitive we are going to be in the race," added Verstappen.

"Tyre wear seems quite high around this track but at least now, the track is pretty fun to drive especially the long left hander at turn eight. We will find out tomorrow. Try to pick up as many points as we can tomorrow."