Max finishes Imola test on top
Published on 09 October 2014 by Stefan Meens
On the second and last day of the FIA Formula 3 European Championship collective test at Imola, Max Verstappen finished at the very top of the time tables. Not only did the Dutchman set the benchmark in terms of speed, the Van Amersfoort Racing driver gained plenty of vital track time, lapping the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari 76 times.
After completing 112 laps and setting competitive times on the previous test day, Max was among the front runners as soon as he hit the track on Wednesday. In fact, the 1:36.593 set early on in the session proved unbeatable for the opposition. Nevertheless, Max wanted more and managed to go even quicker by clocking a 1:36.553, beating runner-up Jake Dennis' lap by three tenths.
After lunch, Max' dominance continued as he was the only driver to break the 1:37 barrier. His 1:36.938 left second placed Felix Rosenqvist trailing by three tenths. Championship leader Esteban Ocon experienced a quiet day ending up in thirteenth.
Despite completing a good amount of laps, finding a nice balance in the car and setting competitive lap times, it was not an easy day for Max. After the afternoon session, the youngster visited the local hospital for minor treatment. “Because we use the kerbs a lot on this track, the steering wheel really smacks against the palms of your hands which let to blisters. I think more guys suffered from this issue. However, it shouldn’t be a problem ahead of the race weekend”, explains Max. “Nevertheless, I’m happy with today. We had plenty of speed and we could have gone a lot faster. In my fastest lap I was held up, which cost me about four tenths.”
Upcoming weekend, Max will have an opportunity to continue his impressive form at the penultimate round of the championship, held at Imola. With two rounds, and six races remaining, Verstappen junior is still in the title hunt. He trails championship leader Ocon by 77 points. This means that Max has to score more points than the French rookie to keep the title dream alive.
It is going to be a tough challenge with the Red Bull Junior still facing two ten-place grid penalties after an engine swap. “We'll probably never know why we had that engine failure. There was to much damage inside that engine to investigate the cause of the failure.” Meanwhile, third placed Tom Blomqvist will try to close the ten point gap towards the Dutchman who faces a challenging weekend. No doubt though, that the 17-year-old F1 rookie is going to give it his all.
Results FIA F3 European Championship collective test – Day 2, Wednesday 8 October, Imola:
Results morning session
Results afternoon session
Summary test Imola
