Another satisfying pre-season F3 test for Max
Published on 05 April 2014 by Stefan Meens
Max Verstappen leaves the Hungaroring satisfied after another excellent performance at the first official Euro F3 pre-season test. After setting the fastest lap on the first day, the talented Dutchman set a third time in the morning session and a fifth in the afternoon session of the second and final day. More importantly, the Van Amersfoort Racing driver feels very much at ease in his new car, finding the right balance as he works together with the team.
Max is happy with his progress: “I am very pleased about today with a great third fastest time in the morning and a fifth later on. The car feels brilliant and we have found the perfect balance for this track”, explains the talented youngster who is about to embark on his maiden single seater season in the highly competitive FIA Formula 3 European Championship.
Max hits the track early on in the morning. After a relaxed start to his run, the 16-year-old's lap times are found in the top half of the leaderboards. With a sixth place initially, Max returns to pits. The Van Amersfoort boys make several minor set-up tweaks and it is not long before we see the number 30 exiting the pit lane.
After an hour, Max sets his fastest time of the morning in his nineteenth lap of the day. With a 1:36.316, he trails front runner Antiono Giovinazzi by a mere 0.005s. Unfortunately for both drivers, Felix Rozenqvist clinches the top spot at the end of the morning with a 1:36 flat. The Dutchman has to settle for third.
Max: “After I set my fastest lap we focussed on other things than pure lap time. It was a good lap anyway and it made more sense for me to practice starts in stead of desperately chasing P1.”
After lunch, it is time for the afteroon session. Max is the first car out on track. On his used set of slicks he puts in a decent time of 1:36.5. “We started on used tyres and I was able to set a good time. After that we did a couple of runs to try some stuff out and it just went really well. Honestly, I am very happy with this team. They really got there stuff sorted out”, says a delighted Max.
Father and mentor Jos echoes his son's sentiments: “The whole operation looks really good. The balance of the car is truly amazing and the team did a fantastic job making sure Max was able to do so many miles in such short amount of time. I can't say anything else than that I’m delighted.”
As the afternoon session reaches its halfway point, Van Amersfoort Racing decides to call the Max into the box and abandons the rest of the practice session. Max explains the team's motives: “We really need this car to be optimal, also when we test in Austria in a few days time. We pretty much got everything out of the car that we could in these two days. It's a great car and we want to keep it that way, so the risk outweighed the advantage, had we decided to put in even more laps."
For Van Amersfoort Racing and the Verstappens, the next stop is Austria. At the Red Bull Ring, the second pre-season test for the FIA F3 European Championship drivers is scheduled on April 8 and 9. Keep an eye on the Verstappen Info Page and its social media channels for the latest news regarding Max and Van Amersfoort racing in Austria.
Results FIA Formula 3 European Championship pre-season test – Day 2, Saturday April 5, Hungaroring:
Results morning session
Results afternoon session
Results day 2 (sessions combined)
