DOHA, Qatar (AFP) — Team boss Christian Horner said Red Bull “threw the kitchen sink” at their car on Saturday to find the set-up that enabled Max Verstappen to claim pole for Sunday’s Qatar Grand Prix.

The newly-crowned world champion had struggled on Friday and in Saturday’s sprint race, when he finished eighth, but changes to his car paid off as he secured his first pole in five months before being summoned by the stewards.

His pole was under threat as he was alleged to have been driving “unnecessarily slowly” during the session when he baulked a lap by Mercedes’ George Russell who had to take dramatic avoiding action.

Russell wound up second in the session.

“Honestly, I didn’t expect that,” Verstappen said.

“But well done to the team to give me a car that feels a bit more connected and once the car is a bit more together you feel you can push harder. It felt a lot better in qualifying for me.”

“We did change a bit on the car, but I never thought it would make such a swing in performance so that’s promising. I hope that it lasts tomorrow in the race, I don’t know that yet, but it felt more stable over one lap and that’s exactly what we need.”

“I’m very happy to be on pole. It’s been a while. It’s going to be a tough race physically, but I think also on the tires.”

“I hope that with the set-up we have on the car right now it will be a bit better. It’s all very close behind and you could see in the sprint that Mercedes, McLaren and Ferrari were all quick. Now, it seems like we are in that mix.”

Horner said: “What a great turnaround. Max went out and delivered in the most spectacular way.”

“We threw the kitchen sink at it and pretty much everything you could change we did change. You never know if it all comes together in a balance, but it did and he nailed it.”

Russell said he had to take evasive action when came upon Verstappen and said it was “super dangerous.”

“I ended up going through the gravel all over the floor, so it felt like the floor was scraping over that curb and through the gravel,” he explained.

“So, I hope it didn’t damage it. Maybe that’s the reason why we didn’t improve. I don’t know, but it was a bit of a hairy one — two corners before we started the lap.”

Verstappen said he was slowing to create a gap because he had two cars ahead of him before his final pole-clinching run.

“I think George got excited,” he said.

“He wanted to pass and get around. And that’s fine as I mean everyone tries to get their position for the best possible start to the lap.”