Max Verstappen Took Pole Position for Dutch Grand Prix

Qualifying in these conditions on new tarmac can be quite tricky but that last lap was very enjoyable. It’s all about putting in good laps and staying out of trouble. We’ve had wet conditions at the last few races but it’s the first time here in Zandvoort, the wind and drying track played a big factor in Q3 and turn one on my final lap was a bit tricky, but the Team made all the right calls today. The pressure's always there to perform in front of your home crowd but when you can pull it off it feels incredible. To be on pole here feels great and we have a very strong car for tomorrow, let's see what we can do. 

It was a challenging qualifying today, with the changeable conditions and amount of red flag time. I definitely wanted to be a lot higher up, especially for the race because it is not an easy track to overtake around. It was very tricky out there, especially towards the end and the strategy we took in Q3 was probably not ideal in hindsight. At the time we thought it was the best to do a double push but I think doing a single timed lap would have been better for the tyre. We just have to look forward now, we have a great race car, we had very strong race pace on Friday and in the simulations so hopefully we are able to make some good progress tomorrow. I want to keep the momentum from before the summer break going, we should be able to really come through the field and deliver the podium. 

Today’s track conditions were tricky and considering that Liam only had FP3 to drive the car, he definitely did a good job on his first day. As for me, qualifying was frustrating because we couldn’t put it all together. The team did a good job of getting me to Q2, but there’s definitely room for improvement from me, especially with my radio communication to keep updating them about track conditions. I think the car had the pace to get to Q3, so I feel I didn’t maximise my performance, which is the thing that’s the most frustrating, because you always want to feel like you gave it your all. The track conditions were really difficult, and I had traffic in multiple places, but it was the same for everyone on track. It is what it is and it’s learning for the future. It’ll be difficult to overtake tomorrow but the conditions are different again, and we’ll do what we can, obviously aiming for the points. 

Firstly, I feel for Daniel in this situation, and it’s not something you want to see, especially to someone as nice as him, and I hope he recovers quickly. Any chance you get to race in Formula 1, you will grab with both hands, so I’m very excited about the opportunity I have been given. There are lots of emotions because it’s something I've wanted to do since I was three years old.

Today has been very hectic, with very tricky conditions. It was my first time driving on the intermediate tyres during the first session, and it was different to what I expected, but I felt like I was getting somewhere and learning how the tyres behaved. During qualifying, I was feeling comfortable and like I was gaining a lot, but then it rained again, and I expected the grip to drop, but I was surprised by how high it stayed, so for sure, I didn’t maximise everything. I feel comfortable in the car, but with these conditions, it’s tricky to learn this track in the car. 

Physically, I feel okay now, but with wet track conditions, it's not as physically demanding as the dry, so I expect it to be more tough during the race. This track is definitely a tricky one, bumpy in some places and takes confidence, which is difficult for me to pick up so quickly. If it’s dry tomorrow, I’m going to be learning many new things because I haven’t driven the car in fully dry conditions yet and haven’t done any long runs on dry compound tyres. I'll just learn as much as possible and hang on.