Max Verstappen says often enough that qualifying could be very close in only to whizz away from the field in the race. What is going on?
In 2023, races were firmly the dominion of Max Verstappen, as he took a record 19 wins from 22 races in the single-most dominant season any Formula 1 driver has ever recorded.
He also grabbed 575 points, led 1,003 laps and set a whole host of records, but in one area, he did not break the season-record.
That was for number of pole positions in a season, the mark which currently stands at Sebastian Vettel’s 15 in 2011, as Verstappen ‘only’ recorded 12.
Whilst there were only three race winners, there were five different pole-sitters, with Charles Leclerc emerging as the closest challenger to Verstappen in the final rounds – indeed, since the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, the two have qualified one-two at every race.
But whilst Verstappen would be ‘pegged’ back in qualifying and Leclerc would often out-perform his car, the Monegasque was often under no illusions about what would happen come the race.
Even if qualifying was tight, the superior race package of the RB19 meant the Dutchman would simply cruise off at the front, leaving the rest to fight over the crumbs.
But what are the reasons behind this apparent ‘disconnect’ between qualifying and race performance? RacingNews365 takes a look, as the Dutchman has started 2024 with two relatively simple wins from pole position, with pole margins of 0.228s and 0.319s respectively.
