Max Verstappen thanks surprise figure for critical Red Bull call

Max Verstappen has hailed race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase for deciding upon a different strategy, which allowed him to claim pole position in Saudi Arabia.  Following Lando Norris's crash early in Q3, most of the field elected to just complete a single run on their new sets of soft tyres, but Verstappen did not.  He aborted his first flying lap before actually starting, thanks to the Norris red flag, meaning he could use these tyres for another run before switching over to his second, brand-new set. To achieve this strategy in the time frame left, Verstappen had to carry three laps more of fuel - an entire run - and complete a race-style pit stop, with the Dutchman 0.001s up on Oscar Piastri after the first lap.  Piastri earned provisional pole back, but the Red Bull ultimately pipped him by 0.010s as Verstappen explained Lambaise's decision.  "You just keep on trying to fine-tune before qualifying to find that perfect balance, and we tried a lot of setup directions again this weekend," Verstappen told media, including RacingNews365.  "I think we chose the right one going into qualifying, then it's just fine-tuning, and we are learning. "We are trying to understand our car a lot better because it has been more hit and miss than we’d have liked so far this year, so it is a positive that we did get it right here.  "With the crash [for Norris]. The only thing it meant was that you had to change your approach. I wasn’t entirely sure what to do. "At the end of the day, GP said: 'Let’s fuel it for two laps. So you do the first lap on the used out-lap tyre, then pit and go onto the new.  "You carry more fuel, so you’re a bit slower on the first time. But it was the right call. It was definitely the right thing to do for me in terms of feeling with the car and building up to the limit."