'Pole was possible for Verstappen, but Mercedes were too fast in the race anyway'

Pole was possible for Verstappen

Red Bull Racing seemed to have the best car at the start of the season, but as the season has progressed Mercedes have taken the upper hand. In Barcelona, Mercedes clearly had the best car, with Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton eventually back finishing P3 and P1. For Verstappen, there wasn't much more to come.

''Verstappen strung together his best sectors when he needed them on the first fliers in Q3, although time lost off Turn 7/8 and through Campsa cost him around a tenth-and-a-half to Hamilton. He closed that gap to just 0.036s with a mighty final sector but it wasn’t quite enough. Given he was a little quicker off Turn 7/8 on a second lap that was slower overall, maybe pole was possible, although unlike at Imola and Algarve the evidence is inconclusive'', Straw said in his message to The Race.

Perez disappoints

''Maybe pole position was just possible, but a high-quality race drive showed the Red Bull didn’t quite have the pace to win on Sunday'', is the final verdict from the British journalist. Verstappen gets a 9 on his final report, where his teammate comes off much worse with a 5.

''He never looked like being at Verstappen’s level, the nine-tenths gap was exaggerated by his struggles. How much of his poor qualifying was down to his shoulder problem is difficult to gauge, but he recovered well in the race even though he was not a factor in the top three battle'', concluded Straw.