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Max Verstappen believes an issue with his turbo in Q3 cost him a chance at pole position for the British Grand Prix.
The Dutchman will line up in fourth place, behind Charles Leclerc, who he overtook for the race win in Austria two weeks ago.
Despite his woes with the turbo, Verstappen says that qualifying within two-tenths of pole position is something positive for him and Red Bull to take.
“I honestly didn’t know what to expect in qualifying,” Verstappen said.
“Friday and this morning was not good, I was lacking stability and we managed to find the stability from the car and it was alright.
“I kept having turbo lag coming out of the low-speed corners, I had an issue with not the power I wanted, so it didn’t pick up the throttle like I wanted.
"We definitely lost a bit of lap time with that. But still to be that close to pole is good. It’s just a shame because we lost a bit of time, otherwise I think we could have fought for pole.”
Expanding on how the turbo lag held him back, Verstappen said: “It’s where the boost is kicking in.
“So all the time when you go on the power, some of the corners are low RPM, there’s just a lag. You go on the throttle and nothing is happening and then you feel it kicking in.
"You lose performance, especially here. After the corners here, there are long straights so you continuously lose.
“It’s a completely different power unit so there are a lot of benefits but some things are just a bit different so it’s just a bit more fine-tuning but we normally get it right and you turn it around.”
Grand Prix of Belgium
C. Sainz jr
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Replies (3)
Login to replycalle.itw
Posts: 8,527
I wonder if this is the aftermath of Austria. Turbolag ain't something that tend to happen with these PUs, even Honda mastered that aspect.
f1fan0101
Posts: 1,804
Strange and a shame. That Red Bull seems to be coming into its own now
f1ski
Posts: 726
no lag as the turbo can be driven by the electrical system i wonder if they had dialed down the power delivery because of the instability in the chassis.