The world champion put himself at the top of the timesheets after the first run in Q3 but failed to improve on the critical final effort as Hamilton beat him to the top spot on the grid by just 0.003 seconds.
Reflecting on why he had not kept up his run of pole positions that stretched back to the Monaco Grand Prix, Verstappen blamed a lack of good balance throughout qualifying.
“I have been struggling the whole weekend to find a good balance,” explained the Dutchman. “Every session has been up and down.
“Today also in qualifying it was really difficult in Q1/Q2 to just feel confident, to really attack corners.
“I thought my first run in Q3 was quite good. But then the second run again, no feeling.
“I tried to push a little bit more, but you lose the rear, or lose the front. We are still second, but I think we should be ahead with the car we have normally. But so far I think we haven't been on it.”
Source: Autosport