Max shows his potential after difficult start to his first FWS outing
Published on 23 January 2014 by Stefan Meens
The first collective Florida Winter Series (FWS) test did not go according to plan for Max Verstappen. A clumsy collision in the pitlane meant that the sixteen-year-old talent was sidelined for most of the morning session. However, in the afternoon, Max was able to complete the most laps of anyone, to make up for lost track time. He finished both sessions in P7.
In the morning, moments after all eleven FWS drivers were allowed on track for the first time, the red flag was shown before anyone had set a flying lap. Max drove into Antonio Fuoco, his former CRG karting team mate. The incident occurred as Max looked down in his cockpit, whilst Fuoco stopped his car up ahead in the pitlane.
Max humbly explains: "The collision in the pits was my mistake. I was looking at my pit lane speed limiter and in that moment of distraction the collision happened. Fuoco had already slowed down to a hold and I crashed in to him with a speed of 60km/h. It's safe to say we were both really gutted about what happened, but I'm happy he accepted my apology."
The incident meant that both Formula Abarth cars needed extensive repair. Max lost his front wing and ended up with a bend front suspension with Fuoco's Tatuus Fa010B rear end severely damaged. The mechanics had their work cut out and managed to get the Italian back on track after almost two hours. Unfortunately Max had to wait even longer. In the end, Verstappen junior got ten minutes of track time out of the available two and a half hours.
Despite only lapping the Homestead track a meagre eight times in the morning, Max set a seventh fastest lap, a second a drift of Nicholas Latifi. "The track was not very hard to learn, it's made up out of long straights and short, tight corners. In the latter you need a lot of front end grip which we lacked, as I experienced a lot of understeer. We tried to sort this issue out in the afternoon session."
In short, seventh in the morning session is not a bad result considering the rapid Dutchman still has to make his single seater racing debut and he is competing against a field in which half of the competitors have Formula 3 experience. Among the participating drivers are FIA European Formula 3 champion Raffaele Marciello and European F3 Open champion Ed Jones.
During the afternoon session, the drivers faced a different track lay-out. The Homestead Speedway was lengthened from 3.512 meter to 3.657 meter as part of the oval was included. The new track produced higher average speeds and thus quicker lap times. Max: "Driving part of the oval was good fun and I could easily go flat out on it."
For most of the three hour session Verstappen junior was about two tenths shy of the fastest lap. In the last minutes of the afternoon heat, Marciello and Latifi managed to improve the fastest time, which meant Max ended the session in seventh, with a 1:18.083, 0.390s behind Latifi. The Dutchman lapped the Homestead track an impressive 58 times, well over 200km. However, the making up for time lost in the morning session proved to be a tough task.
Max explains: "The understeer actually increased in the second session which meant I couldn't really carry the speed through the corners. As I wrestled with the car I was never able to put in a perfect lap. We tried different set-ups regarding the front wing and the roll bar but we couldn't shake the understeer. So I think we went the wrong way set-up wise."
The Florida Winter Series are supported by the Ferrari Driver Academy. Max is happy with the support: "I am really pleased with the professional working environment. It's difficult to judge the collaboration with my engineer as it's the first day, but I'm really looking forward to the first round of the Series in Sebring where I'll contest in my first single seater race on Sunday."
Results Florida Winter Series collective test, Homestead Speedway, January 22:
Results morning session (2.5 hours)
Results afternoon session (3 hours)
Program Florida Winter Series 2014:
• January 25-27: Round 1, Sebring Raceway • February 3-5: Round 2, Palm Beach International Raceway • February 12-14: Round 3, Homestead Speedway RC • February 17-19: Round 4, Homestead Speedway RC (Mod)
Niels Hendrix / Stefan Meens
