MIAMI (AFP) – Four-time world champion Max Verstappen said he could "see light at the end of the tunnel" after claiming an impressive second place in Saturday's qualifying for Sunday's Miami Grand Prix.
The 28-year-old Dutchman, frustrated by progress at Red Bull and the driving experience of racing in the new hybrid era of F1 cars, said his team's upgrades had made his car far more comfortable and pleasing to drive.
"For sure, the car has not been great in the previous races," said Verstappen, whose previous best grid position this year was eighth.
On Sunday, he will start alongside championship-leading Italian teenager Kimi Antonelli of Mercedes, who claimed his third consecutive pole on Saturday.
"From my side, I never felt comfortable with the layout of the car," said Verstappen. "I think over these last few weeks the team has been pushing flat-out to try and bring upgrades to the car and make me feel more comfortable with a lot of things and it really paid off.
"I feel more in control of the car again and then I can push a bit more. The upgrades are working and to be on the front row is way better than I expected heading into this weekend.
"Now, let's start with a good start. I've not had a lot of them this year. We'll try to have a look at that, for sure, and see what the weather will do tomorrow, but I'm already very happy with where we are.
"From here there's like light at the end of the tunnel, and we can just push on and try to close the gap further."
Red Bull, in common with most leading teams, made use of F1's enforced five-week hiatus due to the conflict in the Middle East to deliver major upgrade packages for their cars.
While Verstappen purred with satisfaction, his friend and rival – defending world champion Lando Norris of McLaren, who won Saturday morning’s sprint race in convincing style from pole – was unhappy at qualifying only fourth.
"I think we did a good job but I think the others just did a really bad job yesterday and did what they should have done today... so I have no complaints.
"It was trickier today with the wind and the high temperatures and I was struggling a big more for whatever reason. We didn't change anything. It was just the conditions."
He revealed also that, like team-mate Oscar Piastri, he had struggled with power deployment problems and found it difficult to have a fully charged battery pack.
"It wasn't right and we didn't have a clean run," he said. "And we need to understand why."