Max Verstappen only managed to qualify in P4 at the Chinese GP Sprint Qualifying session, as the Dutchman struggled to put temperature in the tires due to tricky conditions.
It was an incredibly difficult session for everyone, even for Verstappen, who hasn’t been making many mistakes lately. The Dutchman, however, admitted that P4 is exactly where he deserves to be after struggling to find the right working window for his intermediate tires.
“It was incredibly slippery, I struggled a lot to get the temperature into the tires so that is why it is very difficult to keep the car on track,” Verstappen said.
“It never really switched on for me, so it was like driving on ice. That is why I think we deserve to be where we are after qualifying.
“Because it was not really working for me in the wet, even though in the dry I think we look quite good. So, of course, I am quite happy with that.”
Verstappen then added that the sprint race will be interesting even though he is not completely happy to start on the inside line as it is worse than the outside one, which has more grip.
“It is not ideal to start on the inside here, it is a lot lower grip on the left compared to the right with this painted stuff on the tarmac,” he explained. “We have to try and have the best start possible.
“Then it is going to be quite a long stint on one set of tires in the sprint but that makes it quite interesting.”