‘Better than expected’ – Verstappen and Hadjar surprised by Red Bull’s pace in Qualifying for Barcelona-Catalunya GP

Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar were left surprised by Red Bull’s pace in Qualifying for the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, with the pair set to start on Sunday from the third row of the grid.

Both Verstappen and Hajdar were within four tenths of polesitter George Russell having found performance with Red Bull’s RB22 on Saturday afternoon.

“I think actually Qualifying went a little bit better than expected,” said Verstappen. “The gap was a lot smaller, looking back P5 looks decent but actually we had a really good opportunity for P3 but somehow in my final sector, just started sliding too much and just not following the normal line that you want to take.

“Also, I think it was only Oscar [Piastri] and me that did the [first flying] lap before the red [flag], and then like 10 minutes in the pits, you probably lose a little bit of rhythm as well which is not ideal in Q3.

“You want to do a lap, come in, refuel, put new tyres. You know where you lost a little bit of time and go out again. When you’re waiting around a bit, it’s probably not ideal but at the end for us, it was much better.

“I went into Qualifying thinking that we would be miles off and just be P7, P8, but this was promising.”

Hadjar finished just behind the four-time World Champion and admitted that he was disappointed to end up only P6, with Kimi Antonelli in P3 less than one-tenth quicker.

“Tough Friday, Saturday morning and then in Qualifying, it looks like we picked up the pace a bit,” said Hadjar.

“Especially as we moved to Q3. I don’t even know how we are three tenths off pole because we’ve been a second off the whole time. That’s a bit surprising and being so close to P3 is a bit disappointing [to miss out].”

The Frenchman believes Sunday’s 66-lap race “should be fun”, with high temperatures and multiple pit stops expected that mean strategy will be imperative.

When asked about his thoughts for the race, Hadjar said: “Lots of pit stops, lots of tyre degradation. I need a big Turn 1 and from there we need sharp pit stops and that’s it.”