22 July 2023 , 17:27
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Ted Kravitz and fellow broadcaster Lee McKenzie shared a laugh over a question about Max Verstappen after he was beaten to pole position by Lewis Hamilton.
The seven-time Formula 1 world champion will start Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix from the very front of the grid. It will be the first time he has done so in any race since the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, which he went on to win.
Joining him on the front row will be Verstappen. The Dutchman was aiming to make it six pole positions in a row, but he was toppled by Mercedes rival Hamilton who went just three-thousandths of a second quicker on his final flying lap.
It remains to be seen how the Red Bull racer will approach the start of the Grand Prix. He will want to overtake Hamilton at the earliest opportunity, but is on the dirty side of the grid and will struggle to get a better start off the line.
In his Ted's Notebook show on Sky Sports, Kravitz was pondering the same question. And he also asked for Channel 4 presenter McKenzie's view as he happened across her as he strolled through the Budapest paddock.
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After waiting for two Red Bull staff members to walk past, he asked: "D'you think Max will be able to help himself, or do you think he'll let Lewis go at the start?"
In response, McKenzie gave Kravitz a telling look and replied, with a smile and more than a hint of sarcasm: "Will Max Verstappen let anyone go at the start? Move along please, go!"
Max Verstappen was frustrated after missing out on pole (AP)Verstappen pointed the finger at his team and his new car upgrades for his failure to take pole. "I think the update works but I think we didn't really put everything together, set-up-wise, because I think today we've just been all over the shop and not exactly where we wanted to be," he said.
"I've been struggling the whole weekend to find a good balance. It's been very up and down, today in qualifying it was really difficult in Q1, and Q2 to attack corners. I thought my first one in Q3 was quite good but my second run again had no feeling, tried to push a little more, you lose the rear, lose the front. We're still second, but I think we should be ahead with the car we have normally. So far this weekend we haven't been on it."
And Hamilton was visibly emotional as he spoke after taking his first pole in 33 attempts. He said: "Wow. I really didn't expect, coming into today, that we would be fighting for pole. So when it went into that last run I gave it absolutely everything. There was nothing left in it."