Max on P3 for both Sunday races

Published on 10 May 2014 by Stefan Meens

Qualifying for the second and third race of the Pau F3 Grand Prix, was once again a duel between the two fastest drivers of the weekend: Max Verstappen and Esteban Ocon. After an epic battle for pole on Friday to determine the grid for the first race, the two drivers were again separated by the smallest of margins. For the race 2 grid, Ocon beat Max by a mere 0.057s. For the third race grid, the gap was even smaller: 0.050s.

Due to the track being only 1.7 miles long, the drivers are split into two groups ahead of qualifying. The odd numbers are in group A and the even numbers battle for pole in group B. As Max and Ocon are both in the group B, it is impossible for them to start on the front row together as the grid is being formed by alternate times taken from the two groups.
On Friday, group A took to the track first. However, on Saturday the running order is reversed and group B is scheduled to run first.

As their twenty minute session gets under way, it are Ocon and Max who set the pace. “The second qualifying session went well but it wasn’t enough for pole”, says Max, who figured out where he lost time. “I've left some speed in the first sector under braking. Data taught us that I’m not braking hard enough so we're looking into a couple of things to see if we can solve why I'm not braking as hard.”

Meanwhile, the session is red flagged with four minutes remaining after Tatiana Calderon crashed backwards into the tyre wall at the Foch chicane. When the session restarts there are no improvements, meaning Lotus F1 Junior Ocon claims his third pole of the weekend.

Group A's qualifying is stopped briefly as well. This time it is Richard Goddart who causes a red flag. At the end of group A's session it is Felix Rosenqvist and Tom Blomqvist that occupy the top spots. Rosenqvist's 1:10.197 is not an improvement on Ocon's quickest lap. This means Max will keep P3 ahead of Blomqvist but he will start behind Ocon and Rosenqvist for both races on Sunday.

"It's a shame I couldn’t be the fastest but I can be happy with P3. We'll have a look to improve the set-up of the car ahead of the two races but it's going to be difficult to gain positions. However, as always, I'll give it my all”, concludes Max who knows how hard it is to overtake in the streets of the French city.

The full schedule for the FIA F3 European Championship round at Pau can be found here
To follow Max at Pau you can make use of the official Euro F3 live timing and stream:
Live timing is available at: http://live-itschrono.com/live-gp-pau/live.html
Live stream (races only) available at: http://www.fiaf3europe.com/livestream.html

Furthermore, via Twitter and Facebook we will keep you updated throughout the weekend followed by a full report on Verstappen.nl at the end of the day’s action. 

FIA Formula 3 European Championship Round 3 - Pau – Day 2, Saturday 10 May:
Results qualifying group A / group A - 2nd fastest lap
Results qualifying group B / group B – 2nd fastest lap