Team Netherlands 19th in qualifying

Published on 11 December 2005 by Thorsten Hendriks

Team Netherland qualified a very disappointing 19th for the Sprintrace in Dubai. The two fastest times (1.47.545 (Q3) and 1.47.559 (Q4)) were not enough to close the 3.156 gap to first.

We spoke with a very diappointed Jos Verstappen."Why and how only 19th? If we only knew! We don't have any grip. Yesterday we thought we had everything as we wanted it. We changed some minor things. We tried to find the problem and the mechanics and engineers did their best, unfortunately to no avail - we don't have any grip. Very disappointed, that is all I can say." What about the race?Well let's hope for the best but we are definately short of some serious grip and speed. We have to study the telemetry thoroughly and see if we can find something in time for the race."

The qualifying sessions were very exciting but in the end Neel Jani for Team Switzerland ended up being fastest. He beat the Frenchman Nicolas Lapierre with 0.633 seconds. Ireland, Brazil and Great Britain complete the top 5.

Photo: A1 Team Nederland

In the first session Team Mexico caused a red flag situation. Salvador Duran hits the kerbstone in one of the corners and slides into the wall. The time continues and the session is finished before anyone else can set a time. Only USA, Australia, India and Lebanon clocked a time in this first session.

The official timings:

   Team            Fastest     2nd fastest  Total      Difference
1  SWITZERLAND     1'45.926    1'45.992     3'31.918
2  FRANCE          1'46.266    1'46.285     3'32.551    +0.633
3  IRELAND         1'46.167    1'46.459     3'32.626    +0.708
4  BRAZIL          1'46.113    1'46.514     3'32.627    +0.709
5  GREAT BRITAIN   1'46.201    1'46.433     3'32.634    +0.716
6  GERMANY         1'46.489    1'46.616     3'33.105    +1.187
7  CZECH REPUBLIC  1'46.539    1'46.768     3'33.307    +1.389
8  MALAYSIA        1'46.386    1'46.934     3'33.320    +1.402
9  CANADA          1'46.856    1'46.985     3'33.841    +1.923 
10 PORTUGAL        1'46.834    1'47.284     3'34.118    +2.200 
11 ITALY           1'46.940    1'47.201     3'34.141    +2.223 
12 INDONESIA       1'47.019    1'47.214     3'34.233    +2.315 
13 SOUTH AFRICA    1'46.943    1'47.309     3'34.252    +2.334
14 JAPAN           1'46.772    1'47.730     3'34.502    +2.584
15 USA             1'47.312    1'47.380     3'34.692    +2.774
16 CHINA           1'47.378    1'47.547     3'34.925    +3.007
17 NEW ZEALAND     1'47.407    1'47.569     3'34.976    +3.058
18 INDIA           1'47.383    1'47.624     3'35.007    +3.089
19 NETHERLANDS     1'47.515    1'47.559     3'35.074    +3.156
20 PAKISTAN        1'47.154    1'48.029     3'35.183    +3.265
21 AUSTRIA         1'47.812    1'48.169     3'35.981    +4.063
22 AUSTRALIA       1'47.639    1'48.637     3'36.276    +4.358
23 LEBANON         1'48.373    1'49.696     3'38.069    +6.151
24 MEXICO          1'48.002                 1'48.002

Thorsten Hendriks