Max Verstappen, Red Bull, Yas Marina, 2020

Verstappen thrilled to end run of “frustrating” qualifying sessions with pole

2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Posted on

| Written by

Max Verstappen says he is “very, very happy” to have taken pole position for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix after admitting his frustration at being unable to beat the Mercedes in qualifying previously this year.

The Red Bull driver took his first pole position of the season in the final race weekend after pipping Valtteri Bottas by less than half a tenth of a second.

“I said before we went into qualifying that it’s going to be the final send of the season and we did that,” said Verstappen. “So I’m very very happy with that.”

Verstappen says the surprise result was especially satisfying after Red Bull been unable to beat the dominant Mercedes to pole position previously this year.

“For sure we are very happy with it,” said Verstappen. “The whole year when you’re behind and getting closer… it gets a bit frustrating sometimes. But, very, very pleased with today.

“It’s a long season for everyone. Especially a lot of races in a row. So I think this is a good final qualifying for everyone in the team.”

However, following yesterday’s disrupted practice sessions, Verstappen is unsure how competitive his car will be over long runs in tomorrow’s race.

“I don’t think everyone did a lot of laps [in practice],” he said. “We still have to wait and see how that goes.

“We’ll try to do our best to try and keep them behind. They’re still very fast. It seems like we have some decent top speed this weekend so hopefully that will work out for tomorrow.”

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Browse all 2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix articles

Author information

Will Wood
Will has been a RaceFans contributor since 2012 during which time he has covered F1 test sessions, launch events and interviewed drivers. He mainly...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

2 comments on “Verstappen thrilled to end run of “frustrating” qualifying sessions with pole”

  1. Yeah, after that first run I really thought ‘okay, not his day’ but they turned it around, were confident they didn’t need to go out again on softs in Q2, and got that pole in a very close fight. Surely a day to treasure for Verstappen and indeed the whole team!

    Hope the race turns out as close, and especially that they can for once keep the momentum with the car into next season.

  2. According to Rodber he was outperforming the car… I would love to know what Jolyon Palmer *cough cough Albon did then. 3 tenths behind. I wonder what Max did in Istanbul aswell did he outperform the car then?

Comments are closed.