Interesting thoughts from Marko and Max:
-Saving tires for the whole lap was key.
-Setup from sprint was tweaked to make car turn better.
-Miami not the best track to assess the upgrade as it is "special layout"
-lacking straightline speed in 3rd sector.
Max Verstappen drives on pole for the Miami Grand Prix - Despite the sideways in the corner, it is enough for the best starting position thanks to an important learning effect
By now at the latest, it should be clear: Children definitely don't slow down. The new dad Max Verstappen did not show that he had missed all briefings on Thursday and put the Red Bull RB21 on pole for Sunday.
But what tipped the scales? In addition to less than optimal laps by McLaren's competition, according to Helmut Marko, it is Verstappen's tyre management that tipped the scales in his favour.
"Max was highly motivated for qualifying [after the events in the sprint]. Above all, he implemented today what didn't work yesterday: that the tyres maintain constant grip over the entire lap," he says on Servus TV and Sky.
"In qualifying for the sprint, he went too hard and then he had no more grip. He lost two to three tenths. Today he divided it in such a way that the tyres still worked optimally in the last two corners." Although McLaren was slightly stronger in the last sector, Verstappen put in a strong first sector in particular, although his lap was not perfect.
Braking turn 1, everything looks good. Suddenly, however, the rear breaks out. It's not so much the dreaded "snap oversteer" as a slow breakout of the rear axle. Verstappen skillfully opens the steering, which means that the corner radius no longer quite fits. Not a complete failure in the curve, but not optimal either.
"Ahhh man, it just broke out!" was Verstappen's first reaction after the fast lap. He probably no longer believed in poles. It was only when he was on the long straight on the final lap that the news came that it was enough. Verstappen can't believe it at first. "That is... Pole?" Gianpiero Lambiase has to confirm it to him once again. Verstappen: "Unbelievable!"
The slide could be the result of a change in the car set-up that Red Bull introduced with the underbody update. The aim was to improve the "car rotation", i.e. to put it in plain German: that the butt gets around the bend better. It may have been a bit too much of a good thing for Turn 1, but it worked all the better for the rest of the lap.
"I changed the set-up a bit compared to the sprint, so the car turns a little better," Verstappen explains. "But what we actually want to achieve is a better balance. However, this track is not the best to say if you have really improved the car - it is just special in the layout."
In qualifying, there were no more set-up changes. "There's not much you can do between sessions anyway - at most you can adjust the front wing a bit," Marko interjects. "But the car suited him well from the start. And as I said, the decisive factor today was the tyre management. He really did an excellent job of implementing that throughout qualifying and made the difference."
In the end, he drove another 0.284 seconds faster than in the efirst attempt. Where did that come from? "A bit in turns 7 and 8, then a bit in the second sector. And maybe a little bit in the last corner. So yes, little things everywhere. Apart from the moment in turn 1, I felt comfortable on the entire lap."
He also confirms what Helmut Marko has already said: "It was really difficult to get the tyres into the right window over a whole lap. " That's exactly what made the difference today," says Verstappen. "You had to be careful not to drive too aggressively. Because as soon as you demand too much, you simply lose grip at the end of the lap - and that costs a lot of time."
At the same time, the four-time world champion emphasizes that the qualifying result is not a free pass for Sunday. "We are still struggling with a few limitations. If I could choose, I'd like to have more top speed - because we're missing a few km/h in the third sector."
For Sunday, the cards could be reshuffled again. "According to our weather forecast, it is supposed to rain. But we'll let that come to us," says Marko. And as is well known, wet conditions are not necessarily something Max Verstappen has to fear.
https://www.motorsport-total.com/forum/ ... c#p1716447It doesn't turn.
