Verstappen twelfth in Italian GP, fourth fastest race lap
Published on 06 September 2015 by Mike Motilall
Max Verstappen has driven a very steady race which earned him the twelfth spot in the Italian Grand Prix. As the Dutchman had to start from the back of the grid due to technical issues and even before the race started, got a drive through penalty, he drove a great catch-up race and even managed to drive the fourth fastest race lap with a 1:27.390. He was also responsible for putting some shine on the race with a couple of outstanding overtakes; unfortunately, he didn’t finish in the points.
Lewis Hamilton claimed victory as he saw his closest rival, Nico Rosberg, drop out enabling him to tremendously increase his lead in the world championship standings. The podium was completed by Sebastian Vettel, who gave Ferrari’s home race some glory and Felipe Massa in the Williams. Hamilton’s victory was not certain: due to a too low tyre pressure at the start of the race, race control delved into the matter to discuss a possible sanction or even a disqualification of the Brit. Having looked into the case, it was decided to not to take any further actions.
“I couldn’t do much today because of the drive through penalty”, Max tells Verstappen.nl. “It wasn’t the easiest race. But the pace was good and I had some good overtakes. I would like to have started more to the front, for sure we could have gotten points today. The whole season our race pace is very good, so we can be very pleased with that.” Looking forward to the next race in Singapore, Max relays: “The circuit in Singapore suits our car better. Hopefully we won’t have the same problems we had here this weekend. I am confident we can do a good job there. It will take a bit of time to get used to the track, but for sure we will be competitive. I am looking forward to it.”
From the word go, it’s Verstappen who gets away very well as he also makes little work of some of his contenders. At the end of the first lap he pits in order to comply with his drive through. With a deficit of 16 seconds to Merhi, in front of him, he re-emerges seventeenth on the track. Both Lotus’ have already dropped out by then and Felipe Nasr, due to a crash in the Prima Variante, also needs to pit. In the seventh lap Verstappen passes Merhi, two laps later it’s Will Stevens’ turn. Two laps later, again, Fernando Alonso has no answer to the Dutchman’s push forward.
In lap sixteen, Max overtakes Jenson Button in Parabolica. By then, the Brit has DRS to his disposal on the straight, but Verstappen defends well in the Prima Variante and maintains his position. He pits in lap twenty and swaps the softs for the harder compound tyre and heads back out again, sixteenth. One lap down on race leader Hamilton and eight seconds on Fernando Alonso. Doing two seconds per lap, the youngster closes the gap to the Spaniard and in lap 26 he eventually overtakes him. On the medium compound tyres, he is doing the same lap times as his team mate Carlos Sainz, who is on the softs.
In the 35th lap, Max pits again for a set of the softs and re-emerges fourteenth on the track. He is 3.1 seconds behind Nasr and in lap 37, Max makes little work of him in the Prima Variante by braking very late and passing him on the outside. It is the second time in two races that the Toro Rosso-driver passes Nasr on the outside. This also is the last action that the Dutchman will undertake, as he finishes in twelfth; one lap down compared to the race winner. As Max was not able to score any points, but Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg did, they both pass Max in the world championship standings. This means the Dutchman is now twelfth.
At the front of the race, Kimi Raikkonen fails to get away from his starting position and drops all the way back to the last position. Vettel keeps putting polesitter Hamilton under pressure, but the Brit doesn’t buckle. He pulls a gap and never relinquishes his lead to the Ferrari. Unthreatened he drives to victory. Both Williams’ have a clean get away and are able to pass Rosberg. However, the German restores the natural order after the first series of pit stops and claims the third position. But two laps before the finish, something happens that no one held for possible: Rosberg’s Mercedes engine dies on him in the Variante della Roggia, leaving him with no points for the standings.
Hamilton gets the order to drive faster in the remaining five laps of the race, although his lead on number two, being Vettel, is more than 20 seconds. “Don’t ask questions, we’ll explain it later”, as the team informs Hamilton. The Brit is clearly not comfortable with it but complies. After the race, it appears to be that the tyre pressure of the Mercedes were too low at the start. Race control is looking into the matter, but decide to take no further action: the FIA is convinced that the tyre pressure of the Mercedes was alright when the tyres were fitted to the cars.
Monza - Italian Grand Prix – Sunday 6 October:
RACE RESULTS P Driver Team Time 1 Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes 1:18:00.688 2 Sebastian Vettel GER Ferrari +25.042s 3 Felipe Massa BRA Williams +47.635s 4 Valtteri Bottas FIN Williams +47.996s 5 Kimi Raikkonen FIN Ferrari +68.860s 6 Sergio Perez MEX Force India +72.783s 7 Nico Hulkenberg GER Force India +1 lap 8 Daniel Ricciardo AUS Red Bull +1 lap 9 Marcus Ericsson SWE Sauber +1 lap 10 Daniil Kvyat RUS Red Bull +1 lap 11 Carlos Sainz ESP Toro Rosso +1 lap 12 Max Verstappen NED Toro Rosso +1 lap 13 Felipe Nasr BRA Sauber +1 lap 14 Jenson Button GBR McLaren +1 lap 15 Will Stevens GBR Marussia +2 laps 16 Roberto Merhi ESP Marussia +2 laps 17 Nico Rosberg GER Mercedes DNF 18 Fernando Alonso ESP McLaren DNF NC Romain Grosjean FRA Lotus DNF NC Pastor Maldonado VEN Lotus DNF
