Max Verstappen and Sergio Pérez will line up alongside one another on the second row of the grid at the Portuguese GP as the Red Bull Racing Honda duo took P3 and P4 respectively at Portimão. Verstappen left it late to secure his place after having a lap time, one that would have been fast enough to secure pole, deleted during Q3 for exceeding track limits. He eventually posted 1:18.746 to slot between team-mate Pérez and title rival Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes.
For Scuderia AlphaTauri, Pierre Gasly will start inside the top 10 having set a time of 1:19.475 to separate the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc and the Aston Martin of Sebastian Vettel, while team-mate Yuki Tsunoda starts in 14th.
Red Bull Racing Honda
MAX VERSTAPPEN – 3rd
“Third is of course not what we wanted, but it’s not too bad after I had a Q3 lap time deleted, which would actually have put us fastest even though I lost time with the snap at Turn 4. We struggled with the balance in Q1 and Q2 because of the track surface, and everyone is chasing grip, but we got to a decent level in Q3 so I don’t think we are too far off. It was really one of those sessions where you could end up in P1 or P3 out of the blue. You could do a lap which was pretty good and then put another set of tyres on, and if you had just a little bit of a different lap and tyre preparation, with the lack of grip around here it makes a big difference and is hard to predict. I think we’re still competitive and it will be different in the race tomorrow. Our long runs have been OK and, although it’s going to be hard to follow with the grip levels, we will first focus on a clean start and then put the pressure on.”
SERGIO PÉREZ – 4th
“It wasn’t a great qualifying on my side, it was very messy in terms of finding my rhythm and so I’m not entirely happy with my lap time. I wasn’t very happy with the balance and I just struggled a lot so it’s a shame we weren’t able to qualify higher. This track is all about the tyres and getting them to the right temperature which is very difficult. I tried everything in terms of warm up with my out laps, build laps, push laps but nothing seemed to work. The conditions with the wind made it more tricky and they probably suited the Mercedes better but we still have a good starting position and a great opportunity tomorrow so anything can happen. I think it will be a tight battle around us so I’m looking forward to that. We just need to put the pressure on the Mercedes and hopefully we can fight for a podium.”
CHRISTIAN HORNER – Team Principal
“It was a difficult qualifying session today, particularly with the very windy conditions, but both drivers progressed through to Q3 on the medium tyres which gives us better strategy options in tomorrow’s race where we lock out the second row of the grid. Max’s first run in Q3 was quick enough for pole, but unfortunately his lap was deleted for track limits after a gust of wind at Turn 4 unsettled the car, causing him to run only millimetres wide. Max’s second and final run was then compromised by traffic so it was a rather frustrating third place for him. Checo did well meanwhile to recover from a little scare in Q1 after he briefly visited the gravel trap to take fourth alongside Max. Hopefully both cars can get a good launch and a clean run in tomorrow’s race to make life difficult for the two Mercedes in front.”
Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda
PIERRE GASLY – 9th
“I’m very satisfied with my qualifying performance today, we seem to find this track more difficult than the last few, so to make it through to Q3 again was positive. We knew coming to Portugal that the characteristics of this circuit would be trickier for us and I think it’s been obvious since we arrived that we’ve struggled slightly with the different conditions, particularly the wind. The team have worked hard since FP1 to change the balance of the car but we’re not completely happy with it yet, so we’ll need to work more tonight to try to understand this more. Whilst I’m not completely comfortable in the car yet, I’m happy we made it through to the final qualifying session, as it seems that our midfield competitors have made some steps forward this weekend, and I think we’re in a position to take some more points tomorrow.”
YUKI TSUNODA – 14th
“This is my first time driving here and by the end of FP2 I think I’d adapted well to the circuit, so I felt really prepared ahead of qualifying this afternoon. For me, the lap was good but the tyre just wasn’t there – I had no grip at all with the softs and it almost felt like I was driving with the hard tyre until the final sector. It was a tricky qualifying session today and I’m really disappointed, but I’ll analyse the data tonight with my engineers and see where I can improve. Tomorrow, hopefully my race pace will be better, and I will try my best to make my way up the grid.”
GUILLAUME DEZOTEUX – Head of Vehicle Performance
“After a difficult Friday, the team have worked on extracting the most from our package for qualifying today. In FP3 we saw we’d made a step in the right direction but getting the soft tyre to perform as we wanted was still a challenge. We made further adjustments to the car, as well as focusing on tyre preparation, for qualifying and we continued to see progression with both drivers. Q1 wasn’t easy, with both Yuki and Pierre experiencing traffic alongside the difficult conditions. Yuki struggled a lot in Q2 and wasn’t able to make a lot of progress, unfortunately finishing in 14th. Meanwhile, Pierre was able to make it through to Q3 but never put the perfect lap together in the final session. Tonight, we will review the different race scenarios and the target will be to finish in the points. Last year Pierre had a solid race starting from the same position, so we are aiming to do this again. For Yuki starting further back, it will be more difficult, but we know he’s great at overtaking and hopefully he can make his way forward into the points”