Verstappen: Red Bull hasn’t solved F1 car woes despite “special” Japan pole

Max Verstappen has stated Crimson Bull has not fastened its troublesome System 1 automobile regardless of taking a surprising Japanese Grand Prix pole that he referred to as considered one of his most interesting profession laps.

The four-time world champion was bidding for his fourth consecutive pole at Suzuka, however steadiness points together with his 2025 Crimson Bull automobile mixed with McLaren’s dominant kind regarded set to finish that streak.

However after not making a lot of an affect all through qualifying, Verstappen suddenly pulled a stunning final Q3 lap out of the bag to defeat Lando Norris by 0.012 seconds and Oscar Piastri by 0.044s, his pole lap of 1m26.983s half a second faster than he had managed in Q2.

Verstappen roared in jubilation on his group radio after his shock pole and hailed it as considered one of his greatest ever laps in an F1 automobile.

“There was plenty of happiness after I crossed the road,” the Dutchman stated. “We simply tried to maintain enhancing our state of affairs a bit. I used to be absolutely dedicated in every single place.

“I’ve had some very nice poles in different places however should you take a look at how our season began it was a shock and that makes it a really particular one.

“On the exit of Flip 1 into 2, six, seven, eight after which Spoon it was like: “Nicely I hope it is going to stick’. But it surely did and after I crossed the road I might see my identify pop up.

“I additionally knew that Oscar was nonetheless behind me, however I used to be already simply very pleased with what I did there as a result of I did not count on to be even shut, in order that was a pleasant second.”

Nonetheless, Verstappen cautioned that his pole lap flattered the Crimson Bull RB21 and that his automobile’s dealing with points are nonetheless current.

“It was quite a bit higher than Friday however the by way of nook steadiness continues to be what we have to work on,” he defined.

“On low gas over one lap some bits you’ll be able to masks somewhat bit, however I nonetheless do not go into the lap absolutely assured and comfy. So the final time I used to be like: ‘Nicely, I am simply going to ship it in and see what we get.’

“It’s extremely uncommon {that a} lap like that may stick, however this time it labored nicely. However we all know that we’ve some points that we wish to remedy; it is clearly not simple to resolve them in the meanwhile.”

Photographs from Japanese GP – Follow & Qualifying