Red Bull ‘threw the kitchen sink’ at the car in front of Max Verstappen’s pole

Christian Horner says Red Bull ‘almost threw the kitchen sink’ at Max Verstappencar settings before he won pole position at F1 Qatar Grand Prix.

The four-time world champion took his first pole position in five months – since the Austrian Grand Prix in June – after defeating Mercedes. George Russell posted a faster time of 0.055 seconds on the final lap of Q3.

It marked a remarkable shift in performance for Red Bull, which started the weekend struggling for pace, with Verstappen only able to qualify sixth in the sprint race before finishing eighth.

“This is a great turnaround. I think the engineers and team in Milton Keynes have worked very hard,” Red Bull team principal Horner told Sky.

“They have a good car setup. Max immediately felt (more confident) – his first comment was that he felt better. And then he just came out and performed in the most spectacular way.

“We basically threw the kitchen sink at it, and almost everything we could change, we changed.

“You never know if everything will come together in balance. And it happened, and he was able to really succeed. Yesterday it was very difficult for us, in turns one, two and especially in the last turn, and also a little in turn seven. And these corners suddenly came to life for us.

“George was neck and neck on the last lap and he hit the last corner and that was pretty good.”

Switching to “aggressive” mode pays off

Max Verstappen

After taking his ninth pole of the season, Verstappen admitted he “didn’t expect” changes to his RB20’s setup would lead to such competitive results.

“I didn’t expect it,” Verstappen admitted. “But the team is great for giving me a car that feels more connected. And once the car is a little more composed you can push harder and I felt a lot better in qualifying.

“We changed the car a little bit, but I never thought it would make such a difference in performance. So this is promising. I hope he lasts longer in the race.

“I don’t know it yet, but in one lap he became much more consistent and that’s exactly what we need. It’s going to be a tough race physically, but I also think it’s about the tires first and foremost, just making sure you handle them well.

“The left front is showing a lot of wear here, so that will be sorted out tomorrow, but I’m hoping that with the set-up we have on the car now it will be a little better.”