Max unable to capitalize on early progress
Published on 09 April 2014 by Stefan Meens
After a highly productive morning, Max Verstappen was not able to put in quite as many laps as he wanted in the afternoon session of the FIA Formula 3 European Championship pre-season test at the Red Bull Ring. Because of a technical issue, the Van Amersfoort drivers was limited to a mere ten laps on the Austrian track, resulting in a meagre 23rd position.
After the lunch break, the afternoon session is scheduled from 12pm to 4pm. It is not until the first one and a half hours have passed that we see Max leave the pits. But he is not the only driver opting for this approach as many of his opponents wait for the track to improve.
Max completes just one lap, in which he warms his tyres, before returning to the pit lane, where he does three practice starts.
“The first two starts didn’t go well, but the third was good as I found the clutch's bite-point”, explains the Dutchman, who made his début at the Red Bull Ring on Tuesday.
Max heads back out to start a stint of about ten laps. Despite the progress and pace shown in the morning, the 16-year-old's times do not quite meet the expectations. His fastest lap at that point only puts him into P13, seven tenths behind first place.
“It wasn’t a great afternoon because we had some issues with the car, which haunted us since the beginning of the session. Therefore I wasn’t able to match this morning's lap times. We weren’t able to do much about that as I spend most of the time in the pits were we tried to find the cause of the issue.”
Despite the team giving it their all, the cause of the technical problem is not easily found nor solved. Therefore the team opts to stay in as further track time would not improve the situation. It might sound cliché, but that is part of motor racing.
“Hopefully the problem is solved by tomorrow. And because we saved a set of fresh slicks, it means I'll have an extra set for the Wednesday”, reveals a hopeful Max.
In the end, Max' 1:26.8 only ranks in 23rd with his fastest lap from the morning (1:25.8) counting as the day's eighth fastest lap. The latter time shows the potential of talented youngster as he set the lap at a time when the track was relatively 'green', especially compared to the afternoon track conditions.
Félix Serrallés (Team West-TecF3) ends day 1 fastest with a 1:25.244.
On Wednesday, Max and Van Amersfoort Racing continue testing at the Red Bull Ring. Live timing for both the morning (8am - 11pm) and the evening session (12pm - 4pm)will be available at: https://livetiming.raceresults.nu/redbullring
Via Twitter and Facebook we will keep you posted throughout the test session. At the end of the day, a full report will be available at the Verstappen Info Page.
Results FIA Formula 3 European Championship pre-season test – Day 1, Tuesday April 8, Red Bull Ring:
Results afternoon session
Results day 1 (sessions combined)
