Max Verstappen has downplayed his chances of securing victory for Red Bull in the Las Vegas Grand Prix, with him facing the risk of falling out of title contention.
The four-time world champion secured second on the grid in Sin City, following a wet qualifying which tested all the drivers.
Crucially, Verstappen qualified three places ahead of Oscar Piastri but behind Lando Norris who claimed pole position. If Norris and Verstappen finish where they are starting from, the Dutchman will fall 56 points behind the championship leader.
As there are 58 points available across Qatar and Abu Dhabi, finishing in second behind Norris would keep Verstappen narrowly in title contention.
However, if Norris scores nine points more than Verstappen on Saturday night, his title defence will officially be over.
Verstappen is hopeful that he can challenge for big points, although conceded that the RB21 did not feel good in the dry running which took place on Thursday night.
Asked for his chances in the race, Verstappen said: "It's a bit difficult to say. We didn’t really do any proper long running. In FP1 I did a little bit, which was not entirely to my liking.
"So I hope with the changes we've made since then that it will be a little bit better. But I’m not expecting it to be amazing. I hope we have a chance to do well."
Wet conditions usually see Verstappen rein supreme, but even the 28-year-old had not response to Norris.
Improvements were made on each lap by every driver, although the Red Bull star conceded he never looked fast enough for pole.
Discussing if he could have claimed pole with one more lap, Verstappen replied: "Well, yeah. But it doesn’t unfortunately work like that. Of course the track does dry up and normally, lap after lap, you should be able to go faster, but there was no time.
"I think if you look at the whole of Q3, we were never up there. We were never first, we were never quick enough, and to be second is fine."
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