Max drives a solid race in Bahrain: “Great to finish in 6th”

Published on 03 April 2016 by Mike Motilall

Max Verstappen finished in sixth during the Bahrain Grand Prix in a thrilling race. Even though he barely managed to clinch a top ten position, after having good free practices on Friday and qualifying on Saturday. But with this feat the youngster gets even for the false start of the season’s opener in Australia, two weeks ago. The eight points earned, are the first Scuderia Toro Rosso has even scored in Sakhir. On the Bahrain International Circuit, Nico Rosberg won the race in his Mercedes, ahead of the Ferrari driving Kimi Raikkonen. Reigning world champion, Lewis Hamilton, came in third in his Mercedes.

Immediately after the race, a cheerful Max talks to Verstappen.nl: “It was a great race. It is fantastic to finish in sixth here, all the more that this isn’t a circuit that suits us well. It went much better, than we anticipated before the weekend. The choices we made yesterday, paid off during the race. This is a track where you can overtake very well and I had some great moves. Unfortunately we couldn’t catch Grosjean anymore at the end. The tyres were working well, the car was handling fine, the pit stops and strategy were super. The whole team did a great job and I had a lot of fun today!”

During the parade lap, we see Sebastian Vettel leave the track with a big plume of smoke behind his Ferrari. The start is very tumultuous. Hamilton gets a poor start and collides with Valtteri Bottas in the first corner. Both are able to continue on with minor damages, but moments later Bottas receives a drive through penalty for his part of the action. At the start, Max is on a fresh set of super soft tyres, but his start is also not flawless. Before even getting to turn one, he gets squeezed in the pack, causing him to lose a position to his team mate Carlos Sainz. But he keeps his nose clean and when the smoke has cleared, we find the fast Dutchman back in the top ten.

After eleven laps, Max comes in for his first pit stop. He gets softs strapped on to his STR11 and continues on. Rosberg is, by now, leading the pack by a great margin as Sainz has fallen way back due to a puncture. Max is on a roll and pushes forward to P6. A few seconds up on him is Romain Grosjean, as Felipe Massa trails considerably.

Halfway the race, Max comes back in for his second pit stop. The team sends him back out again with the mediums strapped on to his Toro Rosso. He rejoins the pack in P10. Moments later, after he pulls a nice brake maneuver on Daniil Kvyat, he is in sixth.

With still ten laps to go, Max in P4, still needs to do another pit stop. Having saved a set of super soft tyres, he only loses three positions during his stop. He gets back on track right in front of Bottas. Setting course to Massa, he makes little work of him. The Brazilian is no match for the youngster, who effortlessly snatches P6 from him. Max is able to somewhat drive up to Grosjean, but is unable to overtake him.

At the front, there is not really any pressure for Rosberg, unthreatened he is able to claim his second Grand Prix victory of this season, ahead of Raikkonen and Hamilton.

Bahrain Grand Prix - Bahrain International Circuit - Sunday 3 April

 RACE RESULTS
 P Driver                 Team          Time
 1 Nico Rosberg       GER Mercedes      1:33:34.696
 2 Kimi Raikkonen     FIN Ferrari       +10.282s
 3 Lewis Hamilton     GBR Mercedes      +30.148s
 4 Daniel Ricciardo   AUS Red Bull      +62.494s
 5 Romain Grosjean    FRA Haas          +78.299s
 6 Max Verstappen     NED Toro Rosso    +80.929s
 7 Daniil Kvyat       RUS Red Bull      +1 lap
 8 Felipe Massa       BRA Williams      +1 lap
 9 Valtteri Bottas    FIN Williams      +1 lap
10 Stoffel Vandoorne  BEL McLaren       +1 lap
11 Kevin Magnussen    DEN Renault       +1 lap
12 Marcus Ericsson    SWE Sauber        +1 lap
13 Pascal Wehrlein    GER Manor         +1 lap
14 Felipe Nasr        BRA Sauber        +1 lap
15 Nico Hulkenberg    GER Force India   +1 lap
16 Sergio Perez       MEX Force India   +1 lap
17 Rio Haryanto       INA Manor         +1 lap
NC Carlos Sainz       ESP Toro Rosso    DNF
NC Esteban Gutierrez  MEX Haas          DNF
NC Jenson Button      GBR McLaren       DNF
NC Sebastian Vettel   GER Ferrari       DNF
NC Jolyon Palmer      GBR Renault       DNF