P1racenews AI automatic summary:
Verstappen’s engineer dared him to do 1m28 pole lap as radio message explained
The Red Bull driver, Max Verstappen, delivered an outstanding performance during qualifying at Suzuka, securing pole position with a commanding lead. Verstappen managed to set an impressive lap time, but he pushed even harder on his final run, clocking a time of 1m28.877s, leaving his nearest rival over half a second behind. Verstappen revealed that his race engineer, GP Lambiase, had encouraged him over the team radio to aim for a 1:28 lap time. Verstappen assured Lambiase that he would push the car to the limit without risking a crash. Verstappen mentioned that he still had room for improvement on certain sections of the track, which he managed to clean up successfully. Red Bull team principal, Christian Horner, praised Verstappen’s performance and shared that Lambiase had playfully provoked Verstappen before his final qualifying lap.
Source: Crash
