Verstappen unsure if he can fight for win: 'Longruns were not good'

After a very difficult Friday and a similarly flawed third free practice, Verstappen did not have the usual confidence for the rest of the Formula 1 weekend. Still, he managed to secure pole position, albeit by a small margin over McLaren drivers Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.

Verstappen unsure about race pace at Imola

Asked how well prepared he feels for Sunday's F1 race, Verstappen replied: "Not at all. Yesterday was terrible in the long run and short run. This morning, we wanted to do a long run, but then we only did three laps," Verstappen admitted.

"But also there, it didn't feel good. But I also had no balance in the short run. So then it's quite normal that in the long run, it's not good. So, naturally, I think with the balance that I had in qualifying, it will be better. But I have no clue about McLaren. They looked very strong yesterday in their long run. So, hopefully, we can do something similar," he added.

In short, despite the pole postion, there is still work to be done for Red Bull. "The whole weekend, we've been on the back foot. We managed to be on top of qualifying, but that's qualifying. The race can be, again, a bit different. And normally, I would like to be a little bit better prepared with a bit more information going into the race. So, I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens in the race," Verstappen concluded.

This article was written in collaboration with Olly Darcy