Christian Horner has listed the reasons why he believes Red Bull drivers Max Verstappen and teammate Sergio Perez missed out on pole position at the Australian Grand Prix. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc claimed his second pole position of the season in Melbourne, lapping more than two-tenths of a second faster than his rivals. But he will have to start Sunday's race with a Red Bull in each of his mirrors, with teammate Carlos Sainz only able to qualify ninth after a compromised session. "I'm still pretty happy with that, second and third on a grid [with] the drivers so close, and both of them at different points looked like they might be able to get the pole," said Horner, speaking to Sky Sports F1 .
Verstappen and Perez both faced Q3 problems
But it could have been pole position for one of his drivers were it not for the problems they faced during Q3, Horner has explained. Verstappen suffered a costly lock-up on his fastest lap of the session, while Perez encountered a 'derate' – a brief loss in power from the MGU-K. "Max's lock-up cost him probably about three tenths, and that would have put him very, very close to Charles' time," Horner commented. "Checo had a small derate on his first lap and carried an extra tenth of fuel as well, because he wanted to do three laps." He summed up: "It's a great lap by Charles but, you know, we're still on the front row and P3."
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