Max finishes first single seater race in a solid fourth position

Published on 27 January 2014 by Stefan Meens

On Sunday, after a set of successful free practices, Max Verstappen took on his first qualifying sessions and race in his single seater career. At the Sebring International Raceway, Max had plenty of reasons to be confident going into Sunday as he was the fastest driver of the day in the free practice sessions. The Dutch youngster continued where he left off with a pole position and a third place in the two qualifying sessions. After an exciting race in which Max led most of the laps, he clinched a solid fourth place in his first Florida Winter Series race.

At 10am local time, the lights went green for the start of the first qualifying session, which determined the starting grid for race 1. Nine minutes into the session a red flag is waved. At that moment it is Antonio Fuoco leading the table, with Max patiently waiting in the pit. After the session resumes, Max takes to the track and after three laps he is clocking purple sector times, indicating he is the fastest man in that sector.

He set a provisional third time when qualifying is red flagged again, a few minutes before the session ends. After the track is clear, Max improves on his time with several tenths but remains in third with a 2:03.477 behind fellow Dutchman Dennis van de Laar and pole sitter Fuoco. The result means Max will start his very first motorsport race in third.

An hour later, the drivers are unleashed for qualifying 2, to contest the starting grid for race 3. Max again waits patiently before going out on track, but when he does, he certainly makes his mark. Verstappen junior clocks several 2:02s with his fastest being a 2:02.457. The lap, which gives Max his first pole position, is an impressive half a second faster than nearest competitors and Ferrari Driver Academy drivers Raffaele Marciello and Fuoco.

As the start of race 1 approaches, it begins to rain, prompting the organization to start the race behind the safety car. After the safety car takes to the pits and the field is unleashed, Max overtakes Van de Laar and Fuoco to take the race lead! It appears Max can create a gap but Fuoco and Van de Laar remain on Verstappens tail.

Max leads most of the race but a few laps before the end, he makes a slight mistake resulting him to drop back to fourth. Slightly disappointed, he explains: "I had a great start which helped me take the lead and create a gap. I probably pushed too hard as they were able to close the gap. In the end, I made a mistake in the last corner of the track which meant I lacked speed on the long straight meaning I was a sitting duck for Fuoco, Van de Laar and Latifi."

In the remaining laps Max does everything he can to make up for lost ground but P4 is his share, behind Van de Laar, Fuoco and Latifi. A slight consolation is that Max set the fastest lap of the race, a 2:16.351, once again demonstrating his talent and raw speed.
"Throughout the entire race I struggled with the last corner but after my mistake I was so angry I was able to drive the corner well. It showed, as I put in the fastest lap of the race."

Results day 2 (Sunday January 26) – Sebring Raceway – Florida Winter Series:
Results qualifying 1
Results qualifying 2
Results race 1

Schedule Florida Winter Series Round 1, Sebring Raceway (GMT):

Monday Januray 27
04.00pm-04.30pm: Race 2
08.45pm-09.15pm: Race 3

Click for a direct link to the Florida Winter Series livetiming.

On Monday, race 2 and 3 of the first FWS round at Sebring are lined up. Max will start race race 3 from pole position! Considering his raw pace displayed the last few days, the young Dutchman is likely to be fighting for the podium!
The Verstappen Info Page will keep you up to date on the latest news and developments regarding Max in the Florida Winter Series. Furthermore, we recommend to sign up to our social media channels, which can be found here: Twitter Verstappen.nl, Twitter Max Verstappen, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram Verstappen.nl en Instagram Max Verstappen.

Johan Peeters / Stefan Meens