Max Verstappen teased he will make it three-wide “for the pictures” on the opening lap of the F1 Spanish Grand Prix.

Verstappen will start Sunday’s race from third on the grid, behind McLaren duo 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Oscar Piastri and 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Lando Norris.

The Dutchman set an identical lap to Mercedes’ 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:George Russell, but as he set his lap time first, he wil𝔉l start ahead on the grid for the race.

While McLaren have 🔯a clear performance advantage, Verstappen is still in title contention.

Verstappen has won two of the op♎ening eight races - the same as Norris.

He’s just 25😼 points beh🤡ind Piastri with a large portion of the season to go.

W🌠ith a long run down to Turn 1 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, there could be fireworks on the first lap.

When asked how he would approach the first corn🐼er, Verstappen joked that it would be his “time to shine.”

Speaking in the FIA press conference, Verstaꦅppen said: “I think it’s time to shine in Turn 1, yeah. Make it three-wide for the pictures. Why not? I don’t know. Honestly, I think looking at pace it will be tough.

“As Oscar said, it’s not🍸 all about the start, Turn 1. You need to be good on tyres. It’s a long race - a lot can happen. I will just try to maximise what I got.”

Red Bull “lacking a bit too much”

Ultimately, th🐷e gap between Piastri and ♏Verstappen was just over three-tenths.

The four-ti🦩me world champion conceded he didn’t have the pace in the RB21.

“It was fine. I think it was consistently the same delta behind,”ಞ he explaine✃d.

“So Q1, Q2 and Q3. Just my first run in Q3 was a bit more difficult as we had a different outlap approach and it didn’t work. Clearly, lacking a bit too much. Sector one was quite tough. Turn 1 was never really good, even though I tried different approaches, and couldn’t find the grip there. It was fine. The car was in a decent window. Unfortunately, not fast enough. I had fun out there. Out herಞe, qualifying flat-out, fast corners. It’s really enjoyable.”

When asꦿked whether he could compete with the McLarens, he replied: “It’s going to be tough. My long run wasn’t bad. I think if we look at the difference today it will be tough to put up a re𝐆ally, really good fight. That doesn’t mean we’re not going to try. We will see tomorrow.”