Verstappen's dissatisfaction explicable: this lap was good for pole

Verstappen balks after qualifying

Verstappen was visibly dissatisfied after qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix. The Dutchman was not happy with the balance of the car and did not get the best lap squeezed out of the RB19. It was all very close, but that did not concern the Red Bull driver. He was mostly fed up with his own qualifying.

This is not surprising, because if you add up Verstappen's three fastest sectors, you come to the conclusion that Verstappen had the fastest time at the Hungaroring. In Q3, Verstappen drove 27.782 in sector one, 27.044 in sector two and in sector three, Verstappen came up with a 21.547. In sectors two and three, Verstappen was the best of everyone, with only Oscar Piastri ahead of him in sector two.

Faster than Hamilton

Yet it is Lewis Hamilton who takes pole and that is because Verstappen did not manage to drive his best sectors in one lap. He drove his fastest sector one and three times in his first Q3 run, his fastest sector two time in the second run. Verstappen achieved a time of 1.16.612 in qualifying, but there was much more in it.

Indeed, if you add up Verstappen's three best sectors, you arrive at a 1.16.373. A lap 0.239s faster than his fastest run in qualifying and more than enough to take pole. Indeed, Verstappen was only three thousandths short of pole.

Hamilton also did not drive his best possible lap at the end of Q3, but is only 0.039s off the perfect lap. So Verstappen was potentially two tenths faster than Hamilton in Q3, only Verstappen did not drive that time when he should have. Fortunately, the Dutchman does have great race pace at his disposal to hit back on Sunday.