Verstappen is disappointed with his own qualifying, but sees opportunities for Red Bull

After the qualifying session for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, it was clear that Verstappen was not happy with his fastest lap. With a third-place he has many chances, but he had to acknowledge the superiority of Sergio Perez, who was a fraction faster on the Italian circuit.

When asked if the weaker qualifying is due to the lack of track time in FP2, Verstappen explains that it is not. "I'm not going to throw it at 'track time'. Of course, it's not ideal, but this morning in FP3 it just went well. I think I have enough experience to sort that out," Verstappen acknowledges in conversation with Ziggo Sports.

"The last lap in Q3 was just massively bad. Of course, I went off with two wheels in turn three, so I lost a tenth on the lap that was already there. It wasn't perfect because I was bothered by Stroll on the previous lap," Verstappen said of his first lap of Q3.

"It was just a bad lap and I haven't had one for a long time, but sometimes that still happens. Nobody is perfect". With third place and a long stretch to the first corner, Verstappen could attack Lewis Hamilton on a good start, but whether he sees that as an advantage he doubts.

"I'd rather be first than third. It's not very wide, so if you just make a normal start, you can hold that P1. We have two cars in front now with two different tyres, so it's going to be interesting tomorrow," Verstappen concluded.