Verstappen qualifies in P11: “It’s not all too bad”

Published on 28 November 2015 by Mike Motilall

Max Verstappen claimed the eleventh spot during the qualifying session for the Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi. Like the Japanese GP, he just missed out on making it through to Q3, the last part of qualifying, on the Yas Marina Circuit. With a 1:42.521, he eventually was 2.3 seconds slower than Nico Rosberg, who drove the fastest time and will be starting from pole position tomorrow. Lewis Hamilton is second followed by Kimi Raikkonen in third. Carlos Sainz, Max’ team mate, will start from tenth tomorrow.

Despite not making it to Q3, Verstappen was not all too unhappy: “It went fine, and was getting better and better. But the last run, I was not able to prepare so well because of all the traffic. So that’s why my first sector was not so good”, Max tells Verstappen.nl right after the session ended. “I had to let Massa pass, who was busy with a flying lap, which left me with less temperature in my tyres. This in turn affects your confidence to brake completely for the first corner. But that’s how these things go.” How do you see your chances for tomorrow’s race? “We hope for points of course, but it’s not all too bad as we are able to start on new tyres tomorrow. So we need to try and do some overtakes right from the start.”

As darkness sets in, in Abu Dhabi, the lights turn green for the season’s last qualifying session. Verstappen, who had previously indicated, after the third free practice, that the midfield would be close to each other, heads out and does a 1:43.378. This puts him in a pack of seven drivers who are all within two tenths of each other. All Renault-drivers are in that little group, while Max is the fastest of the bunch. At that moment, all lap times are done on the soft compound tyre.

Max’s time is good enough for the tenth position, but times start dropping when the super softs are strapped on the cars. His first lap on that compound is a 1:42.889. Again, five drivers are within a tenth of a second and again is Max the quickest of them all. The slowest of them all, is surprisingly Sebastian Vettel, who has some issues and drops back to the sixteenth spot. This leaves him, together with Fernando Alonso, Marcus Ericsson, Will Stevens and Roberto Merhi not making it through to Q2. Max makes it through to the second qualifying session, as he is twelfth.

Max opens Q2 with a 1:42.560, putting him between the two Williams’. Nico Hulkenberg has a slowly deflating front tyre and Romain Grosjean also has problems with his car; his team orders him to slowly bring the car back to the pits. Max does a second run and improves his time to a 1:42.521. However, he is 39 thousandths shy on Sainz, who snatches the tenth position away from the Dutchman. He is left stranded in P11 and together with Jenson Button, Pastor Maldonado, Felipe Nasr and Grosjean, they have to watch Q3 from the pits.

In Q3, it is Sergio Perez who surprises friend and foe, by going a full second faster, than his team mate Hulkenberg, in his first lap. The Mexican is by then, merely a tenth of a second slower than Lewis Hamilton. He himself is second, behind Nico Rosberg. It has gone completely dark now as Rosberg puts his foot down. With a lightning lap, he does a 1:40.237, leaving Hamilton trailing in three tenths of a second. Raikkonen makes little work of Perez as he claims the third spot on the grid. Carlos Sainz only does one timed lap in which he clocks a 1:42.708, earning him the tenth position.

In the constructor’s standings, Scuderia Toro Rosso is trailing their immediate competitor Lotus, by nine points. Max is in twelfth position in the driver’s standings; Romain Grosjean, with the same amount of points difference, is in eleventh. For Force India, Nico Hulkenberg is in tenth. He is ahead by three points on the Dutch- and Frenchman. With Maldonado starting from the thirteenth position, Grosjean from the fifteenth and Hulkenberg from P7, the youngster will have to work his magic in order to come out on top.

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – Yas Marina Circuit – Saturday 28 November 2015

 RESULTS QUALIFYING
 P No Driver             Team          Q1       Q2       Q3     Laps 
 1  6 Nico Rosberg       Mercedes      1:41.111 1:40.979 1:40.237 12 
 2 44 Lewis Hamilton     Mercedes      1:40.974 1:40.758 1:40.614 12 
 3  7 Kimi Räikkönen     Ferrari       1:42.500 1:41.612 1:41.051 14 
 4 11 Sergio Perez       Force India   1:41.983 1:41.560 1:41.184 18 
 5  3 Daniel Ricciardo   Red Bull      1:42.275 1:41.830 1:41.444 17 
 6 77 Valtteri Bottas    Williams      1:42.608 1:41.868 1:41.656 19 
 7 27 Nico Hulkenberg    Force India   1:41.996 1:41.925 1:41.686 15 
 8 19 Felipe Massa       Williams      1:42.303 1:42.349 1:41.759 20 
 9 26 Daniil Kvyat       Red Bull      1:42.540 1:42.328 1:41.933 22 
10 55 Carlos Sainz       Toro Rosso    1:42.911 1:42.482 1:42.708 17 
11 33 Max Verstappen     Toro Rosso    1:42.889 1:42.521          14 
12 22 Jenson Button      McLaren       1:42.570 1:42.668          12 
13 13 Pastor Maldonado   Lotus         1:42.929 1:42.807          13 
14 12 Felipe Nasr        Sauber        1:42.896 1:43.614          14 
15  8 Romain Grosjean    Lotus         1:42.585                   11 
16  5 Sebastian Vettel   Ferrari       1:42.941                    7 
17 14 Fernando Alonso    McLaren       1:43.187                    5 
18  9 Marcus Ericsson    Sauber        1:43.838                    7 
19 28 Will Stevens       Marussia      1:46.297                    7 
20 98 Roberto Merhi      Marussia      1:47.434                    8 

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