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If you are an ardent Formula 1 follower, you are already aware every race weekend brings new challenges. However, no track brings the aerodynamic challenge like the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. The high altitude geographical location of the track makes it extremely challenging, and we already saw proof of that with spins throughout all practice sessions. This is exactly why usually a ruthless and faultless Max Verstappen put up a very jittery front ahead of the 2023 Mexican GP.

The Red Bull man qualified P3 as the Ferraris locked the front row. Now, we are all aware no matter where the Dutchman starts, a race win is always in the picture. However, ahead of the challenging Mexican GP, Verstappen portrayed a low confidence side of him during the post-qualifying interview.

Max Verstappen reveals what went wrong during the Mexican GP qualifying session

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Many believed Verstappen would secure the pole with his last flying lap. However, no one could beat the time set by Charles Leclerc during the early stages of Q3 for the rest of the session, not even him. The last flying lap did not see any changes in the top four on the basis of which Verstappen made his confession.

“I think Q1 was okay, Q2 wasn’t too bad but then it just seemed to fall away from us, like the improvements were not big enough coming into Q3. But this track is also extremely difficult in qualifying to basically almost hit the perfect lap, because it’s so low grip, if you try to push a little bit more you might overheat the tyres or you have a little slide,” he revealed.

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“That’s I think what happened to me today, where I tried to find a little bit more time and then the balance wasn’t exactly there and then you’re sliding, you overheat your tyres and then in the last sector you have no tyres left, and that’s basically a bit I think what happened. Yeah, it’s just this track is very, very difficult to put a perfect lap together,” he concluded.

Read More: Beating Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc Upholds Ayrton Senna’s 34-Year-Old Mexican GP Legacy

Even if you are the mighty Max Verstappen, this confession from the Dutchman does not spark confidence. In fact, a lack of confidence is the theme of the entire weekend.

Charles Leclerc makes an honest admission about the Mexican GP

Every Formula 1 driver believes they are the best and they have what it takes to be a world champion. This is the belief that all of them walk around with as they need to. However, not in Mexico, not on the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.

Lando Norris kick-started things with his contradicting remarks about the weekend and the performance of the MCL60. We have already covered the remarks of the world champion. However, surprisingly enough, Leclerc also made an astonishing remark after securing the pole position for the race.

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During his post-qualifying interview, the Ferrari man confessed his astonishment at the pace of his car. When asked if he was expecting to secure pole position, he said, “Absolutely not. It’s been two weekends in a row where we say that so then people will start not believing us anymore. To be honest, I did not expect to be on pole position today.”

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WATCH THIS STORY: Ferrari Strategy Fails We Will Never Forget

It’s been a weekend of low confidence and confusing results already. We are excited to see what the race brings to the fold.

Written by

Mahim Suhalka

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Mahim Suhalka is a senior F1 Author at EssentiallySports. Having written over 1,000 articles, Mahim specializes in core sports coverage. Having followed the sport for a long time, his articles contain excellent analysis as he dives deeper into the technicalities of this complex sport.
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