Max starting from seventh in Russia: “It wasn't much at all”
Published on 29 April 2017 by Mike Motilall
Max Verstappen ended up being heavily disappointed after qualifying for the Russian Grand Prix. In the final sector, the Red Bull Racing-driver struggled with the RB13 to find grip in turn thirteen and only ended up being the seventh fastest. At the front, the fight was fought between Ferrari and Mercedes, resulting in Sebastian Vettel coming out on top for the Italians.
“It wasn't much at all, I don’t get it either”, Max disappointingly starts off. “In Q1 it went reasonably well and I had the right feeling. But after that, with each set of tyres, I kept losing the rear of the car in turn thirteen. If you start sliding there, it only gets worse in the final sector.” A solution wasn’t found very quickly. “We tried everything regarding set-up: brake balance, the differential and engine braking. Nothing helped. I should have grip, but it just wasn’t there. For some reason, it was not working after Q2.”
Regarding the final sector, Max had this to say: “Even my final run was a drama. In the first sector, I was even 2,5 tenths faster, but lost all of that in the final sector. That’s just heartbraking.” On to the race, from seventh.”Normally we should do better in the race than during qualifying. We’ll see tomorrow”, Max concludes with a glimmer of hope.
As the entire field is on the softest compound available, during the first part of qualifying, Ferrari is confident enough to get on the super-softs. This proves them right, because apart from Mercedes, Ferrari tops the leaderboard. Max clocks a 1:35.301 and is with P5 ‘the best of the rest’.
In the final minutes of the first part, Jolyon Palmer spins and hits the wall after having been too aggressive on the kerbs. Sauber’s Pascal Wehrlein spins also, but manages to keep his nose clean. The first dropouts are: Palmer, Stoffel Vandoorne (McLaren), Wehrlein, Marcus Ericsson (Sauber) and Romain Grosjean (Haas).
In Q2, Ferrari straps on the ultra-soft tyres. Still, Valtteri Bottas is dictating the tempo, despite the fact that Kimi Raikkonen has demoted Lewis Hamilton to the third spot. Max clocks a 1:35.221, good enough for P5 at that time. In the closing stages, as Max pits, Felipe Massa betters that in his Williams, putting the Dutchman in sixth going forward to Q3.
Qualifying ends in Q2 for: Carlos Sainz (Toro Rosso), Lance Stroll (Williams), Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso), Kevin Magnussen (Renault) and Fernando Alonso (McLaren).
The ten remaining drivers battle it out for pole in the remaining twelve minutes. But it is quite obvious that only Mercedes and Ferrari are the only candidates for that prime position. After the first run, the difference is just a few hundredths between Raikkonen and Bottas.
Max’ 1:35.161, his fastest of the weekend, earns him the sixth spot, right behind his team mate Ricciardo. Unfortunately, Verstappen is unable to better his time in his second run as Massa does exactly just that. He demotes the 19-year-old driver of his position, meaning Max will start in seventh for the Russian GP.
A fierce battle unfolds for the pole as Vettel comes out on top, in his wake followed by Ferrari team-mate Raikkonen. Bottas and Hamilton, failing to pull off a perfect lap, are on the second row.
Russian Grand Prix - Sochi Autodrome - Saturday 29 April
RESULTS QUALIFYING 01 5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:34.493 1:34.038 1:33.194 20 02 7 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:34.953 1:33.663 1:33.253 18 03 77 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:34.041 1:33.264 1:33.289 18 04 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:34.409 1:33.760 1:33.767 19 05 3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer 1:35.560 1:35.483 1:34.905 20 06 19 Felipe Massa Williams Mercedes 1:35.828 1:35.049 1:35.110 20 07 33 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer 1:35.301 1:35.221 1:35.161 18 08 27 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1:35.507 1:35.328 1:35.285 21 09 11 Sergio Perez Force India Mercedes 1:36.185 1:35.513 1:35.337 18 10 31 Esteban Ocon Force India Mercedes 1:35.372 1:35.729 1:35.430 20 11 55 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:35.827 1:35.948 18 12 18 Lance Stroll Williams Mercedes 1:36.279 1:35.964 18 13 26 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:35.984 1:35.968 18 14 20 Kevin Magnussen Haas Ferrari 1:36.408 1:36.017 16 15 14 Fernando Alonso McLaren Honda 1:36.353 1:36.660 14 16 30 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1:36.462 9 17 2 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren Honda 1:37.070 9 18 94 Pascal Wehrlein Sauber Ferrari 1:37.332 9 19 9 Marcus Ericsson Sauber Ferrari 1:37.507 9 20 8 Romain Grosjean Haas Ferrari 1:37.620 9
