Verstappen: Everyone behaved sensibly or was just afraid

      Max Verstappen qualified second in Las Vegas. At the press conference the Red Bull Racing driver shared his impressions of the session and talked about what he expects in Sunday’s race.

      Question: Max, how difficult was it to drive the car in those conditions in qualifying?

      Max Verstappen: It was very slippery, like driving on ice. To be honest, I didn’t like it at all. Yes, I like driving on a wet track, but this was too much for me.

      You had to be very careful. To be honest, I’m surprised there were so few incidents in qualifying. Everyone behaved very sensibly or were just scared. Either way.

      We were more competitive on wets than on intermediates. But putting together a clean lap was very difficult. Rivals were constantly going off track, yellow flags were appearing, I was locking up the tyres or spinning a full 360 — all of that happened.

      We just got through qualifying without much drama, and a front-row start is a good result. I was a bit unlucky not to be able to do one more lap, but overall I wasn’t really fighting for pole.

      Question: How much were the track conditions improving? If you had done one more lap, could you have caught Lando?

      Max Verstappen: Well, yes. Unfortunately, that happens. The track was drying, so it was natural that it got quicker with every lap, but I didn’t have time for another lap. On the other hand, throughout the final I wasn’t quick enough to be on pole, so second place is a good result.

      Question: What can you say about the race? Are you confident in the car’s pace on a dry track?

      Max Verstappen: It’s hard to say, because in practice we couldn’t properly work on a long run. In the first practice I did a few laps, but I didn’t really like it.

      I hope that after all the setup changes we made, things will be somewhat better in the race. But I’m not expecting anything spectacular. I hope I’ll have a chance to perform well.