Verstappen: 'Not the most enjoyable lap' to claim pole at Miami

Despite a challenging final lap, Max Verstappen secured the pole position in Miami.

Max Verstappen secured the pole position for the Miami Grand Prix, continuing his unbeatable streak early in the season, except for the Sprint Qualifying in China, which does not count towards the statistics. It marks the first time since 1993 with Alain Prost that a driver has achieved six pole positions at the start of the season, and with seven consecutive poles, he is just one away from matching Ayrton Senna’s record set in 1988 and 1989.

“We’ve made improvements to the car, but coming here, I’ve been struggling to keep a consistent feel with the car and the tires over a single lap,” explained the three-time world champion at the end of the qualifying session.

“It’s tough to get both sector 1 and sector 3 right; finding the balance is key. I think we managed well, it wasn’t the most enjoyable lap of my career since I was sliding, but we are on pole, and that’s what matters most.”

The Dutchman was more pleased with his Red Bull RB20 on Saturday afternoon, after being frustrated by several mistakes the previous day in Sprint Qualifying: “It definitely feels more under control, and that’s exactly what I was looking for, so we’ll see how it goes tomorrow.”

“We know what we did wrong earlier, what I did wrong, and I’m confident that if I do things correctly and we do everything the same way we’ve done in recent years, it should be fine.”