Verstappen 'maximised' as Red Bull lacked Ferrari advantage

Max Verstappen believes he "maximised" his potential during qualifying for the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

The Dutchman lines up in second, despite having qualified in third place having lost out to Charles Leclerc's pole lap of a 1:32.726 by 0.378s, with Carlos Sainz taking a penalty.

Red Bull fitted a new set of Soft tyres during his initial run, which he used again on his final run but elected to abandon the lap after seeing Leclerc improve at the chequered flag.

"It's quite cold out there, it's quite slippery. Then of course, being on the street circuit as well, you try to get as close as you can to the walls," said Verstappen.

"That's not always very straightforward, but it was it was enjoyable out there.

"I do think that we maximised today. I think during the whole weekend we've been lacking a little bit of one-lap performance.

"That was also quite clear in qualifying but yeah, I hope of course the more in the race. We are good on the tyres again and we can work our way forward.

Verstappen: Might be a few Safety Cars

Verstappen expects that there could be a few Safety Cars, while the long straights might lend themselves to good racing on track.

"First one here, you never know if there might be any Safety Cars," he said.

"It's a very long straight, a lot of racing will happen there, and then of course I hope we are we are good on the tyres."