Verstappen: Starting from P6 ‘makes Sunday more fun’

Newly-crowned world champion, Max Verstappen looked set for pole during qualifying in Austin, but his time got deleted, pushing him down to sixth.

The 26-year-old Dutchman will start Sunday’s United States Grand Prix sixth on the grid.

The Red Bull looked decent throughout Friday and it came as no surprise when Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc took pole ahead of Lando Norris.

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VERSTAPPEN STILL CONFIDENT OF A WIN IN USA

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Leclerc looked quick during Q1 and Q2, often finding better times than his rival Verstappen.

“I mean I knew in [Turn] 19 it was going to be a close call,” Verstappen said afterwards.

“I had a little mistake in Turn 1, I had to really push for it in the rest of the lap… Honestly, I didn’t even steer, I just tried to maximise the corner and I misjudged it by a little bit, it’s very fine margins when you are pushing to the limit. It makes the Sunday a bit more fun!”

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The Red Bull driver has already won 14 races and is confident of his chances of winning this Sunday.

“I mean it’s probably not ideal, but I’ve also started further back and it’s all about if you have good pace, you will pass, you will move forward. We want to win so of course today was not ideal but it’s still a long race, a lot of things we can do better and have a bit of fun out there as well,” said Verstappen.

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Leclerc leads the way, ahead of Norris and Lewis Hamilton.

Carlos Sainz, George Russel, and Verstappen complete the top six.