Slipstreaming the key to a good lap at Homestead
Published on 18 February 2014 by Stefan Meens
Max Verstappen experienced a solid first day of the final Florida Winter Series round at the Homestead Speedway. With a fifth, sixth, fourth and finally a second place in the four free practice sessions, the sixteen-year-old Dutchman was always among the front runners.
The third round of the series was hosted at the Miami based track, and so is the fourth and final round of the series supported by the Ferrari Driver Academy. This time round, the drivers will face a slightly different challenge as they will compete on a different lay-out of the circuit that includes part of the speedway's oval.
Max' first outing with his new helmet design
From the word go, it is Antonio Fuoco who sets the pace. In the first three sessions the Italian proudly claims top spot before Lance Stroll decides enough is enough with the fastest lap of the day (1:18.718) in the fourth and final free practice. Meanwhile, Max puts on the pressure on Fuoco in the second session as Verstappen junior falls only 0.051s short of the fastest lap, proving the Dutchman easily adapts to the new circuit lay-out.
"It is an easy track to drive and I managed to do a lot of laps so the set-up is pretty much sorted", explains Max. "I do have some minor issues with the rear wheels locking resulting in the front wheels locking up as well. We'll try to improve on that but we are definitely on the right track."
The key to a good lap time at this version of the Homestead circuit is slipstreaming. "To really bank a fast time you need a bit of luck by finding a slipstream and that is the biggest issue. We also lacked a bit of engine power but we managed to improve on that in FP4", says an optimistic Max.
The camera provides onboard footage for Max to analyse
A fresh set of slicks for Max' Formula Abarth in FP4
Max and fellow Dutchman Dennis van de Laar experimented with slipstreaming. The former explains: "We helped each other find a slip stream as you gain two or three tenths. Basically you'll lose a bit of time in the middle, twisty section, but you'll easily gain the lost time back on the long main straight. So first Dennis allowed me to use his slipstream, and after a few laps we switched rolls and I gave him a tow so we were able to do a few good laps."
On Tuesday Max can try and fully utilize his slipstream tactics as both qualifying sessions and race 1 are scheduled. Qualifying 1 will determine the grid for the first race. The second qualifying session will provide the starting line-up for race 3 on Wednesday.
Results day 1 (Monday February 17) – Homestead Speedway – Florida Winter Series:
Results Free Practice 1
Results Free Practice 2
Results Free Practice 3
Results Free Practice 4
Schedule Florida Winter Series Round 4, Homestead Speedway (GMT):
Tuesday February 18 03:00pm-03:30pm – Qualifying Race 1 04:00pm-04:30pm – Qualifying Race 3 08:45pm-09:15pm – Race 1 Wednesday February 19 03:30pm-04:00pm – Race 2 08:00pm-08:30pm – Race 3
Click for a direct link to the Florida Winter Series livetiming.
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.
