Pole-losing error down to pushing too hard after turn one mistake – Verstappen

Max Verstappen admits the error at the penultimate corner that cost him pole position in Austin was a result of him pushing too hard.

The world champion lost pole position for Sunday’s United States Grand Prix after his final lap time was deleted by stewards for exceeding track limits at the exit of turn 19, the penultimate corner on the Circuit of the Americas.

Verstappen was set to take pole by just five-thousandths of a second over Charles Leclerc before his time was deleted. Instead, he will start Sunday’s grand prix from sixth position as a result of losing his best lap.

“I knew in turn 19 that it was going to be a close call,” Verstappen said after qualifying. “I had a little mistake in turn one, so I had to really push for it in the rest of the lap.

“It’s fine margins, honestly. I didn’t even understeer, I just tried to really maximise the corner and I misjudged it by a little bit. It’s very fine margins when you are pushing to the limit. Of course it’s a bit unfortunate, but it makes the Sunday also a bit more fun.”

Despite the disappointing result, Verstappen says he has faced more challenging starting positions in 2023.

“It’s probably not ideal, but I’ve also started further back,” he said.

“It’s all about if you have good pace, you will pass, you will move forward. So we’ll just keep an eye on it. But of course, first we have tomorrow, the sprint day and we’ll see how that goes as well.”

Verstappen says he is still confident of his prospects of fighting for the grand prix victory on Sunday.

“Of course we want to win,” Verstappen said. “So for sure today was not ideal. But like I said, it’s still a long race where a lot of things we can do better and have a bit of fun out there as well.”

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