Verstappen: "Strange that Mercedes qualifies on that tyre this weekend"

"I felt strongly about that tyre, because we are already running a softer compound of tyres so we can’t use the hards like last week which I think was a pretty decent tyre", explains Verstappen in Red Bull's online press moment. "I wanted to go for the hardest option we had this weekend because this week softest tyre is just falling apart so that was not an option. The medium this week was last week soft tire which also wasn’t an amazing tyre."

Hulkenberg deserves a seat

Mercedes did choose to start on those yellow mediums, which is surprising according to Verstappen. "The top runners didn’t want to qualify on it then, so why would they want to do it now", asks Verstappen. Verstappen was confident he would continue on the hardest tyre in qualifying. "It was just a matter of making it through to Q3. The softer tires didn’t last last week and it’s warmer now. The start will maybe be a little more tricky, but last week we managed to hold onto the position, while there were guys behind me on the softer tyre. I think it will be alright."

At that start, Verstappen has to take into account Nico Hulkenberg, who is in third place next to him. Verstappen is happy that the German is performing so well. "First of all these results shows that their car is really strong. But Nico did an amazing job in qualifying and they did a very good job over the winter and I really hope that this result will help Nico for a seat for next year because he definitely deserves to be in F1. There are some drivers that are definitely not as good as him and they are in F1", concludes Verstappen.