Impressive pole Ocon, Max qualifies in fourth
Published on 11 July 2014 by Stefan Meens
Max Verstappen qualified in fourth ahead of the first race of the seventh FIA Formula 3 European championship round at the Moscow Raceway. For Max, it is his first time at the Russian venue. “If I’m honest, it’s not the most interesting track I’ve driven. It’s basically a lot of corners in quick succession. The fact that it’s anti-clockwise doesn’t really do much for me.”
As always, the first qualifying of the weekend is preceded by two free practice sessions. In the first, Max sets the third fastest time followed by P8 in FP2. “The first session went well. In the following session we tried some different set-up options but that didn’t work as intended.”
In qualifying, the 16-year-old Dutchman was unable to get close to Esteban Ocon’s fastest lap. After Verstappen junior claimed six wins in a row, the championship leader retaliated with a stunning pole time of 1:26.530. The margin to the second quickest lap, set by Jordan King, is over six tenths and is the biggest gap between pole and P2 in a dry qualifying since the introduction of the series back in 2012. Max manages a 1:27.361, earning him a place on the second row of the grid behind Ocon, King and Tom Blomqvist.
“We opted to go back to the set-up used in FP1 but it didn’t go as well as intended. Especially in the first and second sector we can win lap time. This means we’ll work hard overnight to improve the car ahead of the first race. Starting from P4, it will be a tough race due to the nature of the track. The only thing you can do, is slot right behind the driver in front of you as you can’t really overtake here. I thus have to make a good start”, concludes a realistic Max.
Via Twitter and Facebook we will keep you updated throughout the weekend followed by a full report on Verstappen.nl at the end of the day’s action.
The full schedule for the Moscow Raceway Euro F3 round can be found here.
Furthermore, you can follow Max via the official live timing and the livestream (races only).
FIA Formula 3 European Championship Round 7 – Moscow Raceway – Day 1, Friday July 11:
Results free practice 1
Results free practice 2
Results qualifying 1 (grid race 1)
