Verstappen remembers last season: "If we get through the first corner, yes"

Max Verstappen is pleased with his place on the second row for this weekend's Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps. The Red Bull Racing driver concludes that the gap with Mercedes is smaller than before and further states that he hopes to attack Valtteri Bottas at the start of the race.

“A bit of drifting, nice right? That is Q1, that can happen," says Verstappen tells Ziggo Sport about the start of his qualifying session."It actually all went quite well. I have little to complain about, I am quite satisfied with that third place. "

Red Bull haven't been as close to Mercedes in qualifying this year than they were around Spa. "So I can't complain about that," he says. "The first run was not quite great, I knew there was still some margin to improve. I didn't have a good slipstream that lap either."

A third place is a good starting position, but Verstappen also refers to his early withdrawal from last season's Belgium Grand Prix. "If we get through the first corner, yes. We just have to make sure we have a good start, then you stay out of trouble. We'll see it all, I'm not too concerned about it. The speed is quite okay"

A victory will be difficult, that is the expectation of the 22-year-old Limburg. "I don't think we can keep up with them, but I do try to try something with Valtteri in the first lap. Hopefully, we can just go back to the podium, spray champagne and then go home again", he sums up his weekend.

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