Max ends first day at Abu Dhabi test in ninth

Published on 25 November 2014 by Stefan Meens

On the first day of the Formula 1 post-season test at the Yas Marina Circuit, Max Verstappen completed 55 laps for Scuderia Toro Rosso. The Dutchman, who turned his attention completely on his F1 Grand Prix debut in 2015 after wrapping up his Formula 3 campaign in Macau earlier this month, clocked the ninth fastest time of the first of two days in Abu Dhabi.

It was not the best of starts for Toro Rosso and their 17-year-old Red Bull Junior. On his third installation lap, the Dutchman hit the barriers at turn nineteen due to a suspension failure, damaging the nose and the front suspension of the STR9 in the process.

Phil Charles, Toro Rosso’s Chief Race Egineer reflects: “It was an interesting day today, as we ran with the new 2015 tyres. Unfortunately in the morning we got minimum running due to a suspension issue, which caused Max to run wide in turn 19 and crash into the barrier. The car was damaged and it took the whole morning to fix it, before we were able to get it back on track.”

Max’ encounter with the barriers was not the only red flag of the day. Force India test driver and GP2 champion Jolyon Palmer had to park his car twice on track due to technical problems. In the pits next door, McLaren struggled on their on-track debut with Honda engines as Belgian test driver Stoffel Vandoorne only managed a handful of installation laps. In contrast, Williams driver Valtteri Bottas set the fastest lap of day, a 1:43.3 on a set of Pirelli super-softs.

Meanwhile, Max went on to lap the 3.4-mile track 55 times, ultimately clocking a 1:47.194. “Unfortunately we didn’t get much running in the morning, but in the afternoon we carried out very useful long runs, which helped me with my understanding of how to manage the tyres. To be able to run the car for a longer period than just an hour and a half, which is all I had done so far when running in the FP1 sessions, was definitely a good experience and lap by lap, I got more used to the car. I’m looking forward to getting another day in the car tomorrow, to go on with the programme we started today.”

Despite the delay in the morning, Charles is content with the day’s progress. “It was a productive day. In the afternoon, we concentrated on long run comparisons between 2014 and 2015 tyres and we have already learnt quite a bit in this area, but there is still a lot to do. We will now put together a programme for tomorrow, based on what we learned today.”

On Wednesday, the team will continue with second and last day of the final F1 outing 2014. Max will once again drive the Scuderia Toro Rosso STR9. Keep an eye on Verstappen.nl for the latest news.

Results Official FIA Formula 1 test – Abu Dhabi – Tuesday 25 November:

Pos Driver             Team                  Time              Laps
 1  Valtteri Bottas    Williams/Mercedes     1:43.396s  -        80
 2  Kimi Raikkonen     Ferrari               1:43.888s  0.492s   81
 3  Nico Rosberg       Mercedes              1:44.512s  1.116s  114
 4  Jolyon Palmer      Force India/Mercedes  1:45.516s  2.120s   37
 5  Carlos Sainz Jr.   Red Bull/Renault      1:45.339s  1.943s  100
 6  Will Stevens       Caterham/Renault      1:45.436s  2.040s  102
 7  Charles Pic        Lotus/Renault         1:46.167s  2.771s   89
 8  Marcus Ericsson    Sauber/Ferrari        1:46.487s  3.091s   95
 9  Max Verstappen     Toro Rosso/Renault    1:47.194s  3.798s   55
10  Stoffel Vandoorne  McLaren/Honda         -          -         3