Verstappen on lap in Q3: 'Engineer lit a fire'

Max Verstappen took pole position for the Styrian Grand Prix yesterday in a fantastic way. Lewis Hamilton has to settle for a place behind the world championship leader, just like in France.

Verstappen was of course very happy with his P1 in Spielberg. He got some extra motivation during Q2, which he eventually used for his Q3 lap. This he told during the press conference to Motorsport.com.

"I think my engineer lit the fire there with me quite a bit because he was upset that I hadn't driven the test lap on softs", Verstappen said. "He came on the radio when I was boxing and he was like 'I know you were held up in Turn 1, but you should have pushed for the lap to see how the tyres worked'".

The Dutchman then responded to that not by word, but by deed. "I didn't give him an answer, but I think it secretly spurred me on inside to push a bit harder during that first run in Q3."

Just like in France, then. This afternoon the Dutchman will try to keep Hamilton behind him. He'll ideally get some help from Sergio Perez, who will start the race on softs. Perez will have to start from P4 and pass Lando Norris first.