Verstappen sets his sights on Qatar win: 'The car is working a bit better'

Verstappen set the fastest time of the qualifying session yesterday, pipping George Russell to pole by +0.055 seconds with his final lap. However, he was judged to have impeded the Mercedes driver earlier in the session by driving unnecessarily slowly on a cool-down lap, meaning he lost his P1 with a one-place grid penalty.

Despite that, there is still a lot of positive coming from the 27-year-old about his chances: "Yesterday, I think qualifying was very positive. The car seems to be working a bit better. Of course, I hope we can be competitive in the race and fight at the front," Verstappen said two hours before the lights will go out.

Verstappen hopes to go for victory in Qatar

Even with his grid penalty, it will not affect the Dutchman's approach to the Grand Prix. "We will of course try to fight for the win. Of course, it's one place back but let's see how it goes," Verstappen said. "Hope the car cooperates a bit," he also said in Dutch.

Sergio Perez also has high hopes for the Grand Prix. The Mexican will start from P9. "I'm really looking forward to it," he said. "I think we've done a good set from the whole weekend with the with the setup, so I really hope that we can be more competitive, be in the mix, get in the mix early on in the race would be critical, because overtaking is very difficult. So we need to be with them early on."

Perez has set a clear goal in Qatar. "Really to score as many points as possible, go as far up as possible. I think it will be a long race ahead so anything can really happen," said the Red Bull Racing driver.

This article was written in collaboration with Olly Darcy

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