Useful second test day at Monza despite setbacks

Published on 13 June 2014 by Stefan Meens

After a productive first of two days testing at Monza, Max Verstappen experienced a useful day despite several issues plaguing the Van Amersfoort Racing driver. Technical problems combined with a bit of rain, prevented the Dutchman from clocking the desired mileage. Nevertheless, Max put in some impressive lap times, highlighting the successful collaboration between the 16-year-old youngster and the Dutch outfit.

As the morning session gets under way, Max is forced to return to the pits after only a handful of laps. Steering wheel issues prevent him from selecting the right gears. “The Thursday started well but early on I wasn’t able to read the gear indicator on my wheel. It turned out that the display broke. This costs us about half an hour. Regardless, the remainder of the morning session went well.”

Max continues: “We started the day on a set of old slicks before switching to a brand new set. The switch really taught us a lot about how the car's set-up impacts the tyres.” As Max is putting in some fast lap times, the session is stopped. Van Amersfoort Racing team mate Gustavo Menezes has ran out of fuel whilst out on track.
After Menezes' car is removed from the track, the session resumes. In the end, Max laps the iconic Italian track 36 times in the morning. His fastest lap, a 1:44.637, is the quickest time in a field consisting of his team mates and several Formula Renault 2.0 and Formula 4 racers.

In the afternoon session, Max is troubled by an issue preventing him from matching the mileage clocked in the morning. As he hits the track on his out-lap, it becomes apparent that there are gearbox issues. “I wasn’t able to shift from fourth to fifth. It turned out that a broken bearing caused the issue which meant that we had to take apart the entire gearbox as well as the whole rear end of the car.”

The team works ferociously to get Max' F3 racer back on track. When he is finally able to go back out, he does not have the chance to drive the car to the max. “I had about half hour left but at the back of the circuit rain prevented me from pushing”, reveals Max. Nevertheless he completes eight laps in the closing stages of the second test day.

Fastest lap times Monza test – Thursday June 12

Morning session:

Max Verstappen     1:44.637 (36 laps)
Jules Szymkowiak   1:45.248 (28 laps)
Gustavo Menezes    1:45.256 (42 laps)

Afternoon session:

Gustavo Menezes    1:45.912 (14 laps)
Jules Szymkowiak   1:46.175 (22 laps)
Max Verstappen     1:47.301 (08 laps)