Max also sets the pace on the second day at Spa-Francorchamps
Published on 07 November 2013 by Johan Peeters
Under the watchful eyes of his father Jos and grandfather Frans, Max Verstappen drove around the famous Spa-Francorchamps circuit on Tuesday. But not only those familiar eyes were watching junior Verstappen, it seemed all the other FR 2.0 championship teams were keeping a close eye on him. This made sense since Max and the Josef Kaufmann Racing car would be fastest throughout the second day of testing, under very difficult circumstances.
Just before the light goes green on the second day of testing, the famous Eau Rouge corner is literally still shrouded in mystery. It is only a few degrees above freezing and significantly colder than Monday. Fortunately the mist clears quickly, and although it is dry, slicks are out of the question since the asphalt is still wet. Max drives the whole day on wet tyres on the slowly drying track.
At the end of the morning a few teams venture onto slicks, but this only causes frequent red flag situations because someone flies off at every other turn. "That was a shame. But I was the fastest again today. Actually, we changed little to nothing on the car, but just drove a lot of laps. The track conditions kept changing, so it didn't make much sense to keep changing or adjusting the car", said Max, who at the end of day had completed a total of 45 laps. Max is satisfied with the balance of the car. "Absolutely. You can't be the quickest just like that. Everything needs to be right." And it seemed to be right because Max is one of the few drivers to go through Eau Rouge at full throttle. You can't deny he's brave and with a lap time of 2:33.6s, he's the quickest of the almost twenty other drivers.
The lunch break is not yet over when the typical Ardennes weather emerges. Persistent rain falls and it does not stop until the end of the day. Max makes a few more runs on the soaking wet seven kilometer long circuit and surprises many by putting in some seriously fast times.
Max: "It was raining hard when I was on the track, but I was close to the times the others had driven this morning when the track was nearly dry. That went really good." Max spins twice during the day, but doesn't damage anything. "That's important. Because if I looked around and saw how many cars came in with damage to them..." A time of 2:41.6s is the fastest rain time for Max.
"I have had a good chance to learn the Spa-Francorchamps circuit under varying wet circumstances. That's important if I come racing here next year", said Max, who is still aiming at taking part in the Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup in 2014. "I'm satisfied with these tests with Kaufmann Racing. All in all it was good and useful test. The car was good and the collaboration with the team was great, very professional. That makes the decision with a view to next season more difficult, but we will think about it over the coming weeks."
Niels Hendrix / Nathan Costelloe
