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Verstappen still sees problems: 'I am not satisfied with longruns'
During qualifying in Japan, it was ultimately Max Verstappen who managed to set the fastest time. On his final fast lap, the Dutchman improved his time, but not by much of a margin. He says this is due to the fast wear of the tyres. Furthermore, the three-time world champion is not satisfied with his lung runs.
Red Bull was dominant during qualifying at Suzuka. In the end, Max Verstappen was fastest, but his teammate, Sergio Perez, was not far off. The Dutchman did not find much extra time in his second fast lap. "Well, I started to lose time from turn 13 onwards, so it's very sensitive around here with the tyres as soon as you push maybe a bit too hard in sector one, you run out of tyres to the end, and that's what happened to me in my final lap, so that's why I didn't really improve a lot," the Dutchman explained after qualifying.
Verstappen is not counting himself rich just yet
"Also my last chicane because the front tyres were giving up, I didn't hit the curb how it should have been, and yeah, let's say that wasn't ideal," he continued.
The three-time world champion is not confident that a win is in it for the Grand Prix. "I think so far I haven't been happy with my long runs. I think the pace wasn't what I would have liked, so there's a bit of a question mark going into tomorrow because looking at the long run, especially Ferrari, they look very comfortable, so maybe they were not so quick over one lap today, but they were definitely fast in the long run, so we'll have to wait and see how that will evolve tomorrow in the race."