Max Verstappen narrowly missed out on the pole position for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix in Imola on Saturday afternoon, falling short by 0.034 seconds to World Championship leader Oscar Piastri. Despite this, the four-time world champion from Red Bull expressed moderate satisfaction with the outcome of the thrilling session immediately after.
“Everything went very well. However, it’s quite challenging here to keep the softest compound alive throughout a lap. My first sector was good, but then I lost the tyres. The differences are minimal, so it’s a shame I just fell short for pole. It was a good lap, but perhaps the soft tyre is a bit too soft for us,” Verstappen said on the grid in an initial response to interviewer and former driver David Valsecchi.
Regarding his chances in tomorrow’s race, Verstappen said: “This was a very good day for us, now we’re going to focus on the race. That’s where the points are to be earned. However, the previous race wasn’t really a battle with the McLarens. I hope we find some speed for the race, that the balance is good and that we can manage our tyres well. And then we’ll see.”
The Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix in Imola starts on Sunday at 15:00 CET.
