Verstappen refutes: 'Then it’s quite easy to improve on the second lap'

Just before his final run in Q3, Verstappen made a lot of overtakes. "I just didn’t want to be in the back of the train," he told the press conference. "When I left the garage there were seven cars in front of me and I know, of course, through experience that you go through turn ten and suddenly you almost have to stop so I didn’t want that so I just passed them. My tyre temps were still fine when I started my lap."

It is striking this season that drivers almost no longer manage to set a better time during Q3 in their second run than in their first run. Verstappen does not see a trend, however. "Sometimes you nail your first lap and then you know that it’s tiny margins. If, of course, you don’t nail your first lap it’s quite easy to improve on the second one but today… and on tracks where it’s quite open and you have a lot of wind variation and gusts as well like today, with these cars we have, they are just super-sensitive to it, so even if it increases with a few kilometres it can make a difference into a certain corner."

Formula OneWorld Championship

A victory in Barcelona will put the Dutch driver at least on a par with his rival Hamilton in the world championship. Should the Mercedes driver put in the best race and win, he will increase his lead to at least fifteen points.