Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko hailed Sergio Perez's "unbelievable" improvement to claim P2 on the grid for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
It was quite the about-turn by the Austrian, who was furious with the Mexican for causing the collision with Esteban Ocon during Practice 1 on Friday at Imola.
But just over 24 hours later, Perez became the first Red Bull driver to beat Max Verstappen on pace alone in qualifying since Daniel Ricciardo's last race for the team at Abu Dhabi in 2018.
"Perez's improvement was unbelievable," Marko was quoted as telling Sky Sports. "The fact that he's already so strong in his second qualifying session obviously makes us very happy."
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Checo's pace has also put Red Bull in a great position to do what Mercedes did to them in Bahrain, by using strategy to get in front.
"Perez starts on the soft tyres, while Max and Hamilton will be on mediums," Marko noted.
"I think it's going to be very, very close. We have two cars [against Hamilton], there are quite a few cars between us and Bottas.
"I hope he doesn't get to the front so quickly. With that, it should be an advantage for us."
Perez himself was disappointed to miss out on his first F1 pole by just 0.035s, especially after making an error at the final corner on his flying lap.
But before the weekend, the 31-year-old had spoken of the importance for him to match Verstappen as soon as possible.
“I don’t have a fixed target, I just want to get this process done as quickly as possible,” he told Racer.
“The team needs me up there and I need to be up there, so it’s not like I’m here relaxing that it will all come.
“I’m working hard, the engineers are working hard together with me and it will eventually click and by the time that happens, we will be very strong.”
Perhaps that time has already come...
