'My start was just terrible' - Max Verstappen hoping to avoid second Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix start mishap
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Published 24/04/2022 at 11:36 GMT
Max Verstappen lost pole position at the start of Saturday's Sprint race in Imola at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix. However he fought back to take first place at the race's conclusion, meaning he starts first on the grid for Sunday's race proper. The Red Bull driver hopes to avoid a similarly poor start.
Max Verstappen
Image credit: Getty Images
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen is aiming to make sure he does not repeat his underwhelming start from the Imola Sprint race.
Saturday saw the Dutchman fail to get away quicker than Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who darted forward to take the lead, and almost closed in on victory until tyre degradation allowed the world champion to regain top spot, and the eight points that come with it.
The win means that Verstappen will again start on pole, this time for the full race at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix on Sunday, and he is keen to avoid putting himself at an instant disadvantage again.
"The start was very poor and we need to analyse why it happened like that because I think all the (practice) starts I actually did this weekend have been quite good, so (it was) a bit weird," Verstappen told Sky Sports.
"When I let the clutch go, just a lot of wheel spin and no traction. So my start was very, very poor."
Of the speculation that his side of the track is the dirtier and slower, he pointed to Lando Norris of McLaren who was in third.
"I mean Lando had a decent start, so there's no excuse," Verstappen explained.
"My start was just terrible. I didn't have gear sync for whatever reason. So, yeah, I need to see exactly what went wrong."
While Verstappen hoped to avoid a slow start, Leclerc wanted to make sure his tyre problems were not repeated.
"I think the pace is quite similar [between Red Bull and Ferrari]," said the campaign leader.
"What made the difference at the end was the graining phase that I went through.
"If we manage to cure that all for tomorrow, I'm pretty sure that we're in the fight for the win. If not, it's going to be a bit more difficult."
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