Max delighted with P6 in Barcelona qualifying

Published on 09 May 2015 by Stefan Meens

Max Verstappen qualified in sixth place ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix. The Dutchman's strong performance contributed to the excellent qualifying result for Scuderia Toro Rosso as Carlos Sainz clinched fifth on the grid. A couple of rows in front of the STR duo, Nico Rosberg stormed to pole position (1:24.681) by lapping the Circuit de Catalunya over two tenths quicker than Lewis Hamilton.

In the first European Grand Prix of the season, Max Verstappen equalled his best qualifying result of the year. “For the team it's really great to qualify in fifth and sixth so Im very happy”, Max tells Verstappen.nl straight after qualifying. 

In Q1, the usual suspects Roberto Mehri and Will Stevens are knocked out together with both Force Indias and Marcus Ericsson in the Sauber. Max comfortably got through in ninth but is keen to show more: “Q1 was pretty tough. I locked my front wheels and the balance wasn’t as good as in the last free practice session so there was room for improvement.”

In the second part of qualifying, Max sets two timed laps. His first, a 1:26.4, grants him a solid sixth place. With three minutes to go, all drivers outside the top five head out for another run on fresh rubber. Max follows the pack and improves his quickest lap by another tenth. In the end, the 17-year-old heads into Q3 in seventh and as the fastest Renault-powered driver. “We adjusted some small thing at the front of the car and it worked out in Q2”, reveals Max.

In Q3 the rookie is the only Red Bull related driver opting to do two runs. The first flying lap, a 1:27.334, counts as a banker lap, set on used tyres. It means qualifying all comes down to the final run. Both Max and Carlos Sainz put in stellar times with the Spaniard pipping the Dutchman by a mere tenth of second leading the Toro Rosso duo to claim the third row of the grid. The Italian outfit therefore out qualifies both Red Bulls and Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen. In front of the STRs it is Rosberg claiming pole ahead of Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel and Valtteri Bottas

“We didn’t expect to be in front of the Red Bull's so as a team we've done a great job today”, says Max, who is looking forward to his first Spanish Grand Prix. “We'll have to have a good start to maintain our starting positions and I think we can. Raikkonen and Massa will probably be quick in the race so we have to watch out for them. But after those guys, we are the fastest team so points are definitely within reach!”

Spanish Grand Prix - Circuit Barcelona-Catalunya - Saturday 9 May

 P No Driver		Team		Q1	  Q2	    Q3	      Laps
 1  6 Nico Rosberg    	Mercedes 	1:26.490s 1:25.166s 1:24.681s 18 
 2 44 Lewis Hamilton    Mercedes 	1:26.382s 1:25.740s 1:24.948s 17 
 3  5 Sebastian Vettel  Ferrari 	1:27.534s 1:26.167s 1:25.458s 15 
 4 77 Valtteri Bottas   Williams 	1:27.262s 1:26.197s 1:25.694s 16 
 5 55 Carlos Sainz    	Toro Rosso 	1:26.773s 1:26.475s 1:26.136s 17 
 6 33 Max Verstappen    Toro Rosso 	1:27.393s 1:26.441s 1:26.249s 20 
 7  7 Kimi Räikkönen    Ferrari 	1:26.637s 1:26.016s 1:26.414s 16 
 8 26 Daniil Kvyat    	Red Bull 	1:27.833s 1:26.889s 1:26.629s 16 
 9 19 Felipe Massa    	Williams 	1:27.165s 1:26.147s 1:26.757s 16 
10  3 Daniel Ricciardo  Red Bull 	1:27.611s 1:26.692s 1:26.770s 16 
11  8 Romain Grosjean   Lotus 		1:27.383s 1:27.375s  	      13 
12 13 Pastor Maldonado  Lotus 		1:27.281s 1:27.450s  	      13 
13 14 Fernando Alonso   McLaren 	1:27.941s 1:27.760s  	      11 
14 22 Jenson Button    	McLaren 	1:27.813s 1:27.854s  	      12 
15 12 Felipe Nasr    	Sauber 		1:27.625s 1:28.005s  	      14 
16  9 Marcus Ericsson   Sauber 		1:28.112s   		       6 
17 27 Nico Hulkenberg   Force India 	1:28.365s   		       6 
18 11 Sergio Perez    	Force India 	1:28.442s   		       7 
19 28 Will Stevens    	Marussia 	1:31.200s   		       6 
20 98 Roberto Merhi    	Marussia 	1:32.038s   		       4 

On Twitter and Facebook we'll keep you updated throughout the weekend followed by a full report on Verstappen.nl at the end of the day’s action. You can find the schedule for the Spanish Grand Prix here. 

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