Max Verstappen onboard showed Martin Brundle something ‘horrible’ at the Dutch Grand Prix

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Martin Brundle felt Max Verstappen was in a far-from-ideal situation during qualifying for the 2024 Dutch Grand Prix after seeing something ‘horrible’ from the Red Bull star.

The 26-year-old started the 2024 Formula 1 season on fire with pole position for each of the opening seven races. It was not until Charles Leclerc sealed pole with Ferrari for the Monaco Grand Prix that Verstappen failed to top any Q3 session whilst also registering five race wins.

But McLaren driver Lando Norris beat Verstappen to claim his third pole of the season at the Dutch GP. The 24-year-old will now hope to convert the P1 start into a Grand Prix win for the first time. Verstappen won in Spain and Oscar Piastri won in Hungary when starting from P2.

Max Verstappen had ‘horrible understeer’ in qualifying for the F1 Dutch Grand Prix

Sky Sports F1 pundit Brundle did not feel Verstappen was in the best position to fight Norris for pole position at the Dutch Grand Prix, though. The one-time McLaren driver felt the Red Bull racer was fighting against understeer during qualifying after seeing Verstappen struggle.

Brundle especially spotted the severity of Verstappen’s understeer in Q2 whilst watching the Dutchman’s onboard camera. Rather than staying tucked in tight to the inside kerb through Bocht 10, Verstappen’s RB20 kept pushing him wider and delayed him applying the throttle.

READ MORE: Five unforgettable Dutch Grand Prix including Prost and Piquet’s drama

Verstappen had to bide his time before charging out of Turn 10, which leads into one of the two DRS zones at Zandvoort. The 40-time pole-sitter’s time from the lap that took Brundle’s eye also left Verstappen in P4, with Piastri and even George Russell splitting him and Norris.

“Horrible understeer,” Brundle said on Sky Sports F1 (24/08, 14:30). “He had to wait so long to get on the power. He’s lost a tenth in the middle sector. His first sector was good, but it’s not where he needs to be at the moment. There’s so much more time to come.”

Max Verstappen will hope to replicate his Spanish Grand Prix win over Lando Norris

Indeed, there was ‘much more’ time to come for Verstappen in qualifying with the Red Bull driver improving his 1:10.811 provisional Q2 lap down to a 1:09.673 in Q3. But his deficit to Norris grew marginally from 0.315 seconds to 0.356s for the Briton to achieve pole position.

Still, the gains that Verstappen found with a tidier lap in Q3 meant he moved up from P4 to P2 for the Dutch Grand Prix grid. Piastri proved unable to replicate his teammate’s progress as Norris got pole to slip behind the Red Bull ace as Verstappen beat Piastri by 0.143s in Q3.

Verstappen will now hope he can replicate his start at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in June. A sluggish getaway from Norris at the Spanish GP let Verstappen pull level off the grid and briefly lead the race before Turn 1. The Red Bull driver even won by 2.219s over Norris.