Immediately after the qualifying session in Barcelona at the Circuit de Catalunya, Max Verstappen expressed his satisfaction on Saturday afternoon with his third-place time, behind the dominant McLaren. “There was no more to it. This was the maximum achievable,” observed the four-time world champion realistically. “We squeezed everything out of the car.”
On the Spanish asphalt, Oscar Piastri convincingly secured pole position for McLaren, just ahead of his teammate Lando Norris. Verstappen was ‘best of the rest’.
After what he described as a reasonable training day on Friday, it was a matter of making minor adjustments for Max Verstappen and his Red Bull team to further improve the car’s balance in preparation for the qualifying session. “Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough for pole, but I think this is where we belong,” said Verstappen, who seems to have few illusions about the race. “I will do my best tomorrow, but they (the McLarens) will be tough to beat.”
