Second place was possible in qualifying for Verstappen

Lagging behind during the first free practices in Mexico, the Red Bull RB12 Max Verstappen et Daniel Ricciardo raised their level in free practice 3 before once again placing themselves as the main rivals of the W07 Hybrid of Hamilton and Rosberg.

Best time in the afternoon, the Dutchman was hoping to repeat his performance to get to the front row, but the winner of the Spanish Grand Prix missed a tenth to succeed in his bet.

“I had a good feeling with the car since the start of the weekend, explains Verstappen. She behaved quite well, and got better and better. It was just a shame in Q3 not to have put everything together, otherwise I think second position was certainly possible. »

Despite this slight disappointment, Verstappen hopes to do well tomorrow in the race, once again taking advantage of a strategic choice different from the Mercedes. The Red Bull driver will start on super-soft tires when the Mercedes start on soft compounds.

“We're not too far behind and we have a different strategy, so it will be interesting, comments the former pilot F3. Of course, the degradation will be greater than with the soft but it’s up to me to play, and with the balance of the car, and to make them last as long as possible.

But clearly at the start, with such a long distance to the first corner, if we can get a good start, then we will have a lot of possibilities. »