Red Bull pulled off one of the most dramatic turns of the season in Qatar on Saturday, going from a “terrible” car to pole on the road in qualifying.

World champion Max Verstappen was stunned by how bad his RB20 felt in the sprint race – as he and teammate Sergio Perez investigated a problem with the front and rear axles separating.

After finishing eighth behind Nico Hulkenberg’s Haas, Verstappen struggled to describe how bad the car felt.

“I just had no grip. The balance is terrible,” he told Viaplay. “When the tires are cold you suffer even more. It felt like a rally car.”

“I think I would have been better off competing in a rally with my dad (Jos) in Spa – we would have had a better chance of being competitive there, I think. It’s really terrible, it was undriveable.”

“We can change a lot of things (before qualifying) but we can’t fix the problem. I don’t know it. We will change some things, but I don’t expect miracles.”

However, that miracle happened, because in the just over three hours that passed between the end of the sprint and the start of qualifying, the RB20 transformed into a completely different beast.

The intensive work of the engineers both at the Red Bull factory in Milton Keynes and on site in Qatar paid off as the team chose the path that would ultimately lead to the surprising result.

This improvement did not result from a dramatic change in wing settings to improve balance – which had been ruled out after Perez tried a more heavily loaded front wing at the end of the sprint.

Rather, it was due to the mechanical settings. Adjustments to the suspension and handling helped create a more compliant platform, boosting the driver’s confidence and allowing Verstappen to set a lap that ultimately made him fastest.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Verstappen, who will start the grand prix from second place after a grid penalty demoted him one place behind George Russell, said neither he nor the team could have expected how big a step these changes would make.

“After the sprint things didn’t look so good,” he said. “But I think we also surprised ourselves with how much we found with the setup. Of course we have to look at why that was such a big difference.”

Since the changes to the car seem to be quite minor, even Verstappen said that he felt the progress made would be quite small.

“(The changes were) not so big that I thought, ‘Oh, now we can suddenly compete.’ And neither did the team,” he added.

Red Bull has made impressive progress with its RB20 since hitting rock bottom at the Italian Grand Prix.

The problems there had more to do with aerodynamics and led to valuable improvements in time for the United States Grand Prix that have helped change the pace ever since.

Verstappen took pole for the sprint there, won in Brazil and was fastest again here in Qatar – proof that the mid-season problems seem to be a thing of the past.

When asked when was the last time he felt the car was as good as it is now, Verstappen said: “It was a long time ago. Actually Austria.

“There the car was really good over one lap, then not so good in the race. But that was actually the last time I thought, “Wow, that was pretty good.” And now of course the gap is very small, but at least big enough to get pole.”