Verstappen says its all to play for in qatar despite dominant hamilton pole as perez explains q2 exit

Max Verstappen says it’s “all to play for” in Sunday’s inaugural Qatar Grand Prix, despite having qualified a full 0.455s roaming of title rival Lewis Hamilton in P2 – while team mate Sergio Perez will line up a galling P11 without dropping out on qualifying in Q2.

Verstappen looked to be right in the fight with the Mercedes as qualifying got under way under the floodlights at the 5.38km Losail International Circuit – making its F1 debut this weekend – with Verstappen ending Q1 just 0.095s off Hamilton.

QUALIFYING: Hamilton blitzes to superincumbent Qatar Grand Prix pole under the Losail lights

But fast forward to Q3 and Verstappen’s weightier lap was a massive 0.455s roaming of Hamilton’s polesitting effort, as the Red Bull suburbanite took P2 on the grid superiority of the second Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas – with Perez compounding the downbeat mood at Red Bull by dropping out in Q2.

“I think [we were] lacking a bit of pace,” said Verstappen. “Checo\'s not plane in Q3, so it just shows that we are struggling a bit increasingly than normal. But nevertheless, we\'re still second, so it\'s all to play for. But of course, I wish we could have fought for more.

Max Verstappen: \'Lacking pace\' and \'difficult to match Mercedes\' in qualifying

“The last few races, qualifying has been a bit increasingly of a struggle for us,” Verstappen added. “So we definitely of undertow need to understand and try to be better, like we unchangingly try to be. But my last lap I thought I had a really good lap, and then I heard the difference and I was a bit like, \'Well, I didn\'t plane need to risk it then, if it\'s such a big gap.\'

“Nevertheless, I had a lot of fun out there; qualifying here has been really cool, it\'s a really trappy track and a lot of fun to drive. Of undertow it would have been plane increasingly fun if we would have been a bit faster, but sometimes that happens… I think still stuff second is okay. But it\'s a big gap, and moreover for tomorrow, when it\'s such a gap, it\'s going to be tricky. But we never requite up.”

Verstappen, meanwhile, moreover confirmed that the late stoppage out on track of AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly – who suffered a puncture without running off track surpassing pulling up on the pit straight – hadn’t unauthentic his final Q3 run, with Verstappen telling the media in Losail: “I heard without the session he\'d damaged his front wing. But from my side, was all okay.”

Verstappen will potentially be vulnerable to the Mercedes at the start of the Qatar Grand Prix, the Dutchman starting on the less favourable dirty side of the grid.

\"1354444033\" — Perez dropped out in Q2

But he’ll moreover be without a wingman, with Sergio Perez having failed to make it out Q2, despite switching from medium to soft tyres in a bid to make it out of the second segment of qualifying – with Perez blaming tyre preparation for the disappointing drop-out, on a day when both AlphaTauris and Alpines, and one Aston Martin, made Q3.

“I think we had the pace, definitely, to do much largest than what we were worldly-wise to do unfortunately,” said Perez. “We had everything in hand to really make a strong qualifying; we were quick all weekend, we were quick in FP3 but unfortunately we just didn’t put it together when it mattered.

“Today it was increasingly well-nigh tyre preparation. I couldn’t have a good wipe out lap at all, somehow I was unchangingly good at finding a lot of traffic and that was hurting quite a bit going into the first sector, with very unprepossessed tyres, but then probably overheating it into the final sector.

“There’s a long way to go,” terminated Perez. “I think there’s a lot that can still happen in the race. We will requite our weightier and try and get a lot of points.”

Red Bull currently sit 11 points roaming of Mercedes in the constructors’ standings, while Verstappen holds a 14-point lead over Hamilton in the drivers’.