Jos Verstappen 7th in a fantastic race
Published on 25 September 2005 by Thorsten Hendriks
A new dimension in motorsport. A lot of things could have gone wrong in this first weekend of A1 Grand Prix. There will have been some but they will be rectified throughout the season. Despite some minor problems and shortcomings this race was one worthy of the word motorsport. Actions, overtaking, understeer, sliding, crashes and try everything to gain one position. The latter has to do with the prize money.
"A seventh place is fantastic, considering I started from 25th." Jos comments. "I think no one expected us to get fout points. It was great to race like this, I haven't had such a good race for a long time. I am very happy and that is what we do it for."
The fans of Team Netherlands had a deja-vu with seeing Jos Verstappen like this. In one lap overtaking 15 cars...left, right, left...not possible...try right again. This is what we have missed the last couple of years. It wasn't just the editor of this article who had goosebumps!
Because Jos had to overtake so many drivers he used up all his powerboosts early in the race. In the last ten laps there were some possibilities to overtake, but without powerboost it can't be done. Especially if your opponents still have some powerboosts to their disposal. It is a sign of things to come though.
Nelson Piquet Jr driving for Team Brazil started from pole position. The warmup lap brought trouble for Team New Zealand, which had to start from the pitlane instead of third on the grid. This was advantageaous for Team England which had a void in front of them.
Second problem was France. They couldn't move from their grid position when the lights went green. It was an exciting start with all those anxious and some less experienced drivers who made their first real start in A1 Grand Prix. Everything went okay, although in the first corner Team Ireland and Team Switzerland collided.
Lebanon spun and even though he made a 180 degrees spin he didn't hit anyone else. Portugal had a little moment off the track.
Avoiding all this there is one man in a bright orange car who makes his way forward. After one lap Jos Verstappen passed the pits in ninth position.
Japan and Germany had a good fight for position in front of Jos. Timo Scheider gained a place, mainly by using his powerboosts. Jos manages to take place 7 when Germany make their pitstop.
In lap nine Malaysia has a very bad pitstop with wheel nyt problems. Shortly after Team Netherlands and Pakistan have their pitstops. Jos Verstappen has a faster pitstop and gains another place.
Most spectacular was the crash between Italy and Lebanon. The Italian driver tries to overtake his oponent on the inside of the corner, but the Lebanese driver didn't pay enough attention and they collide. The Lebanese car gets catapulted on the front wheel of the Italian car and ends up in the gravel pit. Neither driver gets hurt.
The safetycar is deployed. Jos manages to catch up and drives a very good race. He is doing very well considering he hasn't got the fastest car. Then the English driver Robbie Kerr retires from the race with a technical problem. A deep sigh of disappointment can be heard from the English fans on the stands. It appeared to be an electrical fault with the battery.
The Russian team caused another safety car situation by spinning on a dangerous spot. During this part of the race the tyres are begining to show some wear and tear, the drivers have to work harder to keep their cars on the track. The Pakistani driver Khan had a great part in a lot of fights for position....but he was lapped twice already. He kept a lot of driver up. Ah well, beginners' mistakes...
In the end Nelson Piquet Jr finished first, just in front of Australia and (very surprisingly) Mexico. We saw an excellent race which gave A1 Grand Prix and Sheikh Maktoum everything they could with for. We can hardly wait until the next race!
Results feature race:
total avg.
laps time speed
1 BRA BRAZIL 38 55:01.910 161.5
2 AUS AUSTRALIA 38 55:13.240 161.0 +11.330
3 MEX MEXICO 38 55:25.035 160.4 +23.125
4 NZL NEW ZEALAND 38 55:25.615 160.4 +23.705
5 MAL MALAYSIA 38 55:26.262 160.4 +24.352
6 RSA SOUTH AFRICA 38 55:26.762 160.3 +24.852
7 NED NETHERLANDS 38 55:27.540 160.3 +25.630
8 JPN JAPAN 38 55:28.129 160.3 +26.219
9 CAN CANADA 38 55:29.089 160.2 +27.179
10 GER GERMANY 37 55:22.964 156.3 1 Lap
11 AUT AUSTRIA 37 55:48.058 155.1 1 Lap
12 CHN CHINA 37 55:48.370 155.1 1 Lap
13 PAK PAKISTAN 35 55:24.079 147.8 3 Laps
14 CZE CZECH REP 24 37:04.566 151.4 14 Laps
15 RUS RUSSIA 18 28:03.648 150.1 20 Laps
16 GBR GREAT BRIT 17 23:33.010 168.9 21 Laps
17 USA USA 14 42:49.840 76.5 24 Laps
18 LIB LEBANON 13 18:03.599 168.4 25 Laps
19 ITA ITALY 13 18:03.801 168.4 25 Laps
20 POR PORTUGAL 1 1:25.316 164.5 37 Laps
21 SUI SWITZERLAND 1 1:41.197 138.7 37 Laps
22 IRL IRELAND 0 0.000 0.0 38 Laps
23 INA INDONESIA 0 0.000 0.0 38 Laps
Not started
24 FRA FRANCE 0 0.000 0.0 0
25 IND INDIA 0 0.000 0.0
Stand Championship:
1 BRA BRAZIL 21 2 AUS AUSTRALIA 16 3 NZL NEW ZEALAND 15 4 MEX MEXICO 13 5 FRA FRANCE 9 6 GBR GREAT BRITAIN 6 7 MAL MALAYSIA 6 8 RSA SOUTH AFRICA 5 9 PAK PAKISTAN 4 10 NED NETHERLANDS 4 11 POR PORTUGAL 3 12 JPN JAPAN 3 13 SUI SWITZERLAND 2 14 CAN CANADA 2 15 IRL IRELAND 1 16 GER GERMANY 1
Thorsten Hendriks
