“Pole position around here is important,” Christian Horner comments on Max Verstappen’s crucial Pole Position at the 2022 Japanese GP
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Max Verstappen with Red Bull team principal Christian Horner
The Japanese GP weekend has proven to be a crucial round where Max Verstappen could go on to win his second drivers title. After Friday practice, the Dutch driver topped FP3 with just a few hours left for qualifying. This proved to be a great precedent for what was to come. Then came qualifying where there was more than a usual amount of pressure on both the title contenders.
However the ending result seemed to favour the Red Bull driver. Max Verstappen grabbed pole position for the first time in his career at the Japanese GP making the Honda fans burst with excitement. It was a tricky session for the reigning world champion but he managed to pull through and brought the car back to the pits in one piece. Although there was one incident that could have caused havoc during the ending parts of the session.
Lando Norris was on a fast lap while Max Verstappen was on a slow lap as he prepared for his next run. Cold tyres and instant acceleration meant that the car went out of control resulting in Max almost crashing into Norris who in turn mowed some grass as a result of taking avoiding action. Nevertheless pole was secured by Verstappen with Leclerc just 0.1 seconds off his time. Here is what team principal Christian Horner had to say about his driver’s pole position.
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“We will do the best job we can tomorrow,” Christian Horner on Max Verstappen’s pole position at the Japanese GP
He further went on to talk about the weekend. “They [Ferrari] have been quick all season. Why should it be any different here? Max’s last run he got out of shape at turn 2 and lost a bit of the floor as he ran over the kerbs but that was a big lap from him to get the first lap on the board,” he said.
“Pole position around here with mixed conditions is important. We have to make sure that we react at the right times (tomorrow) and when we open the curtains tomorrow we do the best we can with the conditions. It could become squally in the second half of the race tomorrow. We are just focusing on one race at a time. We will do the best job we can tomorrow and hopefully the points will sort itself out,” he concluded.
It will be interesting to see how things unfold tomorrow as Max Verstappen and title rival Charles Leclerc will start on the front row. Suzuka has always delivered when it comes to grand prix racing so a ton of drama is expected and maybe a big incident which will completely change the order of the drivers. A win and fastest lap will seal the title for the reigning world champion. Do you think he can win it tomorrow?
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Varad Joshi
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