Verstappen didn't expect big gap: 'Long time since it felt like this'

"The car was in a better window. I could push a bit more, rely on the grip of the car, the balance. So it was very enjoyable," Verstappen told the press conference in Austria. "to progress through Q1 without using a new set, and that worked. And then from there, almost there, we just tried to fine-tune the balance here and there a little bit. But every lap that I did was feeling good, and then it's all about, of course, trying to just nail every corner. It's been a while since I felt like that in the car."

Verstappen happy with RB20

In recent Grands Prix, the differences in qualifying were a lot smaller and Verstappen also failed to get on pole several times, while he started the season with seven poles in a row. Did this lap by Verstappen approach perfection? "I mean, there's probably always things that can be done better, for sure, when I look back at the lap, but I felt confident. I knew that if I did a solid lap, it was going to be good enough for pole, and that's what I did today and that's what matters."

He continued: "We definitely worked hard as a team to try and be more competitive compared to the last few rounds, and it seems to work. So I'm definitely happy with that, I guess, of course, you always tried to nail laps in qualifying. Some are a bit better than others. This one was for sure very good. I'm probably never going to say it's a perfect lap, but it was a good lap."

Verstappen did not expect to be four-tenths faster than the rest of the field. "Yes, of course. It's a short lap and the gap was quite big. But on the other hand, I felt really good with the car and the balance was there, so then you can really push and attack the corners and I guess that made it such a gap."

This article was written in collaboration with Olly Darcy