Max analyses qualification Kuala Lumpur

Published on 28 March 2015 by Mike Motilall

After having given a first reaction to his strong performance in the qualification of the Malaysian Grand Prix - please refer to our previous article – Max Verstappen analyses his day, in the presence of the Dutch press in Kuala Lumpur.

Max recounts: “I was happy that it started to rain. Had the qualification been in the dry, I would have had a difficult time, because I was struggling with the brakes. On the wet track, during the third part of the qualification, the traffic was not too bad and I also had enough visibility in front of me. Apart from the brakes, the car was performing well. The asphalt was getting pretty dry and there was a reasonable amount of grip.”

The Scuderia Toro Rosso-driver doesn’t have much experience in driving a Formula 1-car in the rain. Still he himself chose to switch to intermediates instead of the full wets. “The fact that I have driven on the full wets and intermediates, during the winter testing in Jerez, has helped me. Because of that I knew how much grip the intermediate tyres have, even though there was a lot of water.” Max also got some tips from father Jos. “Jos told me to be careful not to drive on the white lines. And when the safety car appeared on TV, to see where the track was getting dryer, that also helped me.”

On the dry track, Max was struggling this Saturday with his STR10. The 17-year old driver continues: “Despite having changed the brakes, we are still having problems with them. We will need to fix that before the race. Sometimes it is the front left and then the one on the right; there is a huge difference in temperature between both brakes. If you have no faith in your brakes, you cannot stop on a dime. That is so important on this track. Where you can lose a lot of time when braking from high speed into a hairpin corner. We are still working on this."

Looking ahead to the race, Max is realistic on his sixth position on the grid: “We will need to wait, to see what the outcome will be. With two Williams and a Ferrari behind me, I am expecting some skirmish with them. Those drivers are normally faster on a dry track. I can take on the Red Bulls in front of me, so points are definitely possible. I think seventh or eighth place is attainable. We will see how the race develops and hopefully can take full advantage of the situation.”