Ho-Pin Tung has bad news for anyone who thinks they can beat Max Verstappen on Saturday in the race at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. The Red Bull Racing driver convincingly won his very first pole position in Saudi Arabia, but Tung suspects that Verstappen can go one better on Saturday. However, Tom Coronel is not so sure about that.
Verstappen expected an exciting qualifying, but at the end of Q3 the difference to number two, Charles Leclerc, was no less than three-tenths of a second. Yet Tung also thinks the Ferrari driver’s performance is impressive. “You can now call them qualifying specialists,” says Tung in Viaplay’s review of Verstappen and Leclerc. ‘That was actually clear from Leclerc and you often see that in the race. With him you always have the feeling that his adjustment is more focused on that. In the race he often has more problems and more wear on the tires. That gives him that little bit extra in qualifying.’
“The special thing about Verstappen is that he manages to do it every time on both Saturday and Sunday,” Tung then points out the big difference between the two fighters. And Tung has even more bad news for the Monegasque. ‘If you think it was good now, just wait until tomorrow. Because I think things will get even better on Saturday.’ However, Coronel is not so sure about that yet. ‘Leclerc did give something away. He thought the hole was too big. He himself indicated that they have concentrated more on the race pace’, Coronel seems to be hinting at a possible battle between Verstappen and Leclerc.
Pole lap Verstappen on the limit
As mentioned, Leclerc thought the difference to Verstappen was big, but according to Coronel, the Monegasque should not worry about that. ‘It is also not in the Ferrari and in the combination with Leclerc. And then you have the Max factor. You just can’t compete with that,” says Coronel, who saw Verstappen squeeze everything out of the RB20 in qualifying. ‘This round was maximum. That’s why he said this was a round like the one in 2021. I really couldn’t find a mistake anywhere. Even in that last corner I thought: no, not hitting that wall again. And that really just went well. Then you also know: guys, bring it on. You’re not going to succeed in this,” Coronel concludes.
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