Max Verstappen is not worried about being beaten to pole position for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix by Charles Leclerc.
Ferrari got the result they wanted when the Monegasque racer produced an incredible final flying lap to secure his place at the front of the grid for Sunday's race in Baku. In doing so he edged out Sergio Perez and Verstappen, with the Red Bull pair managing to go faster than Carlos Sainz who had to settle for fourth.
Despite missing out on the front row, Verstappen was relaxed in his post-qualifying interview and seemed confident that he would be able to make up places in the race. He told Sky Sports F1 pundit Johnny Herbert that the situation wasn't exactly what he had wanted, but that he was not too worried just yet.
"I think the start of the lap was good, but then it went away from me a little because of tiny mistakes," said the Dutchman. "It's not ideal, but in general we were struggling a bit to find front-to-rear balance over one lap. Of course not what I want, but as a team being second and third we have a good opportunity for tomorrow."
Asked if he believes there is enough pace in the Red Bulls to beat their Ferrari rivals, Verstappen replied: "I guess we will find out tomorrow, but I think overall we seem to lack a tiny bit over one lap but clearly in the long run our cars should be quite good."
Meanwhile, pole-sitter Leclerc said he was surprised to have set the fastest time of the session, as he had not expected to be able to match the pace of the Red Bull cars. "Yeah obviously all pole positions feel good, but this one I probably did not expect," said the 24-year-old with a grin.
"I thought Red Bull were stronger, especially in Q1 and Q2, I really struggled to see us going faster. But in the last lap everything came together and I managed to do a good lap, so I'm extremely happy.
"I'm really excited for tomorrow. I think we will have quite a big offense to us tomorrow because tyre management is a big thing here. In Barcelona and Monaco I think we were managing it well, even though in Monaco it was difficult to see anything, but overall our race pace has stepped up since we brought in the upgrades so tomorrow will be very interesting."
