Max Verstappen reveals cause of late qualifying scare

Max Verstappen has revealed the cause of his late qualifying scare at the United States Grand Prix, which saw him fail to set a final lap in Q3. 

The Dutchman sat on provisional pole after the opening hot laps in Q3 at the Circuit of the Americas, but ran out of time to set a second push lap. 

Verstappen was met by the chequered flag as he was set to begin his final lap, resulting in a nervy wait while others completed their final laps. 

It represented the second time this weekend that a Red Bull car has failed to set a final lap in a section of qualifying. Yuki Tsunoda was eliminated in the first part of Sprint qualifying on Friday after being met by the chequered flag as he was about to start a flying lap.

In the end, the four-time world champion's opening hot lap in the final part of qualifying was enough for pole by a comfortable margin.

Asked what caused him to fail to set a final lap in Q3, Verstappen explained: "Yeah, there were just some people in front that were just leaving like 10 seconds, easily. So, yeah, then you just run out of time. 

"Then I had two cars in front of me. They were racing as well. I think they set purple sectors on the out lap. That’s not ideal. So, yeah, we just ran out of time."

Verstappen unstoppable in qualifying

As was the case in sprint qualifying on Friday, McLaren had no answer to Verstappen and Red Bull. The 28-year-old secured pole ahead of Lando Norris by almost three-tenths of a second, following a strong 1m 32.510.

With Verstappen having also won the Sprint ahead of qualifying, the reigning world champion is in a prime position to take a huge chunk of points out of his deficit to Oscar Piastri, which reduced to 55 after the sprint.

Improvements were made by Red Bull between the sprint race and qualifying, resulting in a strong session for Verstappen.

"It was, I think, a good qualifying," said Verstappen. "I think the conditions weren't easy, with stronger winds compared to Friday.

"So, sector 1, it was a bit harder to be consistent because the car was moving around everywhere. But I guess everyone, of course, is in the same boat with that. And then, just Q1, Q2, just trying to progress every time with the lap time.

"I didn't feel like in Q3 the track was actually any better — maybe slightly worse, actually, I think for a lot of people.

"But, just trying to find a little bit more pace. And luckily it was there in the car, so just seemed a little step forward compared to Friday's qualifying."