Verstappen expected Ferrari “to be miles ahead”

Max Verstappen says Red Bull’s estimations put Ferrari “miles ahead” of the rest of the Formula 1 grid in qualifying but feels if had he benefitted from a tow on the long straight he could have beaten Sebastian Vettel to third place.

The Red Bull driver will line up in fourth place for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix alongside Vettel on the second row, behind a Mercedes front row lockout, despite only completing one run in Q3 after using all his soft tyres before the final runs.

Verstappen set his best Q3 time alone on track, without the aid of a tow on the Baku City Circuit straight, and estimated a decent tow would have gained him a quarter of a second, which applied to his final qualifying time would have put him in front of Vettel.

While Bottas credited his pole position down to gaining a useful tow on his final lap, Verstappen was surprised not to see a Ferrari on pole having expected the Italian squad to be comfortably quicker than the rest.

“Looking back at it everyone else was towing each other which helps and compared to my own lap from Q2 I was losing two-and-a-half tenths,” Verstappen said. “If you put that in it we are all a bit closer.

“That’s how it goes. The car was working well which I think is most important and it means it can be an interesting race tomorrow.

“It a bit weird as I thought they [Ferrari] were going to be miles ahead in qualifying. But they were not so I think it is going to be interesting tomorrow.”

Verstappen has retired from the past two Azerbaijan races – including a nightmare crash with Red Bull teammate Daniel Ricciardo last year – meaning his best result in Baku has been eighth place in the inaugural Grand Prix at the circuit in 2016.

The Dutch driver’s Red Bull teammate Pierre Gasly will start from the pit lane in Baku after picking up a hefty penalty for ignoring an FIA weighbridge call at the end of FP2.