Although it will not officially go down in the history books as a pole position, Friday at the Marina Bay Street Circuit did produce a historic milestone. For the first time in his Formula 1 career, Max Verstappen finished a qualifying session at the challenging venue on top of the timesheets.
This performance highlights the Red Bull Racing challenger's strength in slow-speed corners, of which there are plenty around the Singapore street track. However, the Dutch driver himself admitted to being somewhat surprised by the final outcome of the session.
"It's always close here in Singapore. You're pushing as hard as you think is possible, close to the walls in places. Once we bolted on the soft tyres, it felt like the car was coming alive a little bit more, but I did not expect this," he explained.
When asked why he had not expected to set the benchmark time, the reigning world champion pointed to inherent limitations in his machine, particularly when dealing with bumps and aggressive kerbs.
The strong effort earned Verstappen the sprint pole position with a margin of 0.120 seconds over his closest rival, George Russell. All four drivers in the top five approached the final segment differently compared to the Red Bull driver, who opted for just a single flying lap.
That notable variation in tyre preparation strategies during SQ3 caught the attention of official sole supplier Pirelli, with engineering figures discussing how different approaches ultimately yielded competitive results on track.
Baca Juga
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