Spectacular win for Max after close photo finish
Published on 20 February 2014 by Stefan Meens
Max Verstappen emphasised that slipstreaming was the key to a successful race during the final round of the Florida Winter Series at the Homestead Speedway.
During the final race of the series, the talented Dutchman took the victory by the smallest of margins (0.004s!) after a perfectly timed slipstream duel with Nicholas Latifi. The win marks Max' second single seater victory after clinching his first at the Florida Winter Series round at Palm Beach.
Wednesday also saw the penultimate race in the series scheduled. Nicholas Latifi took the win, with Max only managing a fifth place after Raffaele Marciello bashed him off the track as the Dutchman was in second position. Despite not reaching the podium in race 2, Max is delighted with his last result in the, by the Ferrari Driver Academy supported, series.
"I'm very chuffed with my win. The whole race went rather well. It's basically all about mastering slipstreaming and to come out of all the overtaking and fighting as the winner, it's great!"
Father and mentor Jos, provides some last minute advice
The day starts with the second race of the event with Max starting from seventh, due to the reversed grid rules. Another good start propels Max in to fifth after the first lap. In lap two, he overtakes European Formula 3 champion Raffaele Marciello, Vasily Romanov and Tatiana Calderon as he chases leader Dennis van de Laar. After six laps it is Max leading the race, followed by Latifi and Van de Laar. At this stage the first nine drivers are within two seconds of each other! Another testimony to the outstanding level of competition provided by the Florida Winter Series.
Lap seven sees Latifi steal the lead off Max while Marciello, three laps later, passes Van de Laar for third. The Italian has got his sights sets on Max and after sixteen lap he has closed the gap. Rather clumsily, Marciello drives into the back of Max, resulting the former to retire and Max to drop back to P7. Max: "The first lap of race 2 was pretty good and after a few laps I took the lead. As Latifi passed I tried to keep up and I was aiming for a solid podium. Unfortunately, Marciello was a bit over optimistic as he tried to outbreak me at the last hairpin. I left him space but he hit my back wheel causing me to spin."
Max took the victory starting from the second row of the grid
In the remaining laps, Max takes the fight to Calderon and Alex Bosak, resulting in Max finishing fifth. At the front, Latifi takes the win, followed by Jones and Van de Laar.
"Because of the collision, Marciello's car had quite a bit of damage resulting him to retire, but the rear end of my car suffered as well, which meant P5 was the highest achievable".
Race 3 sees a slight reshuffle of the grid as Lance Stroll is side-lined due to an injury from a crash in race 1. Pole sitter Antonio Fuoco is penalised for a jump start in a previous race. This means Max starts the race in third place instead of P5.
Verstappen junior has a solid start and a good first lap, hanging on to third behind Latifi and Jones. The former and Max soon pas Jones. From that moment onwards, it's Max and Latifi that fight for the victory in a close duel till the chequered flag. Despite the fierce battle, the duo increase their lead in regards to the rest of the pack. The lead of the race changes several times and when both drivers cross the line in the eighth lap, they are separated by a mere 0.001s!
Max claimed two victories, a second and two third places in the twelve Florida Winter Series races
The battle between Max and Latifi continues until the very last lap, which seems to be ripped out of a Hollywood script. Max: "In the last lap, I slightly missed my braking point in the hairpin. As we both exited the corner Latifi touched me slightly on the rear of the car which meant I had to correct my car going sideways. We ended up alongside each other on the long straight, him on the left, me on the right as we approached the banking. As he was on the inside throughout the corner, he was a bit quicker but as we exited it, I managed to get back alongside him. He tried to break my momentum and touched my wheel but that tactic backfired and I managed to win to race with a 0.004s gap. Absolutely amazing!"
"Pretty much every lap of race 3, Latifi and I were side by side. It was an incredible race. He kept retaliating on the main straight but it was good fight", explains Max as he unravels his tactics: "At one point I decided to stay behind him, which meant we created a gap towards the rest. Basically, as soon as I closed in on the main straight, I would lift off the throttle to avoid understeer."
Max thus showed great maturity and drove well thought through race. "The last four laps I analysed how far I needed to drop back to overtake him in the penultimate lap on the main straight. The plan worked but the fight wasn't over till the very end." Without a doubt an amazing ending to the Florida Winter Series!
The main aim of Florida Winter Series and the Ferrari Driver Academy was to prepare young, talented drivers for the upcoming season. For Max it was the ideal learning school as the drivers were taught about all the aspects of being a modern racing driver. Max: "I've learned a lot the past four weeks, both on and off the track. Of course I made mistakes, but I analysed and thought them through and I think my progress showed in this last race."
At the moment, it is still unclear in what series Max will make his European single seater debut. "We are very busy in looking at several options and I hope to announce soon in what championship and in what team I'll drive later this year."
Results day 3 (Wednesday February 19) - Homestead Speedway - Florida Winter Series:
Results Race 2
Results Race 3
