Verstappen sees room for improvement after second free practice

Published on 10 April 2015 by Mike Motilall

Max Verstappen sees room for improvement after the two free practices for the Chinese Grand Prix. After 32 laps, the Dutch Formula 1-driver noted in the second free practice, his fastest time was 1:39.594, putting him on the fourteenth spot. Leaving the Dutchman to trail the fastest time by 2.6 seconds, which was set, as in the early session, by Lewis Hamilton. The Mercedes however, were not dominant. Kimi Raikkonen, in his Ferrari, claimed second and Daniel Ricciardo took third in his Red Bull.

“We have had a difficult day”, says Max immediately after the practice. “I was not happy with the balance in the car during the first session, so we sought to improve that for the second practice. We partially succeeded, but we need to find more speed.” The young driver was not able to show the full potential of the STR10 today. “We were not able to do a perfect lap, because, when we went out on the softer compound, the session was stopped due to a red flag”, Max continues. “So we couldn’t get the faster time at the moment the tyres were performing at their peak. This leaves us some room for improvement. Hopefully we can achieve that tomorrow.”

His first laps in the second free practice, Verstappen is on the medium compound tyres. On these he notes a 1:41.178, which is four tenths quicker than his time set in the first session. Good enough for twelfth.

Something peculiar happens at the start of the practice, as a person crosses the track without a yellow or red flag being waved. The man heads over to the other side of the track between Nico Hulkenberg’s Force India and Marcus Ericsson’s Sauber. It appears to be a spectator, who is, shortly afterwards, seized by the race track staff.

In the meantime, Nico Rosberg is informed that the difference between the hard and soft compound is about two seconds per lap. Mercedes deduces later that the softer compound lasts around eight laps before degradation gets too great.

Felipe Massa had a moment at the end of the straight: when braking for the hairpin at 200 mph he loses control of  the rear of his Williams. He scarcely avoids hitting the wall but damages his front wing. The Brazilian gets out and as his car needs to be displaced, he causes the first red flag this weekend. This means that everyone, including both Toro Rosso drivers, who were just on their way on the softer compound, needs to get back in the pits.

Verstappen and Sainz head out on track immediately after the red flag, and both improve their times on the softs. Max notes a 1:39.894 and has the upper hand on Sainz, for the first time this weekend. Albeit just one tenth. Both gents are not able to improve their time as this is the only set of softs they will be using.

Daniil Kvyat does a practice pit stop, but when leaving the pits his left rear is on fire. He is ordered to slowly return back to the pits, but at the end of the straight his brakes fail completely and the Russian hits the wall.

Raikkonen gives a little taste of what to expect in the race coming Sunday, when he and Rosberg get into a little one-to-one on the track. He briefly passes the German, but later the Finn leaves the fight for what it’s worth. McLaren together with Honda, seem to have found their way: Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso end their session comfortably among the midfield.

For both Manors, at the back of the field, it is Roberto Mehri who is within the 107% rule of the fastest time. Will Stevens cannot seem to shake his bad luck as he is forced to stay inside, the greater part of the practice, due to engine issues.

Chinese Grand Prix – Shanghai International Circuit – Friday 10 April

FREE PRACTICE 2 RESULTS 

P No Driver 		Team 			Time 	  Gap   Laps 
 1 44 Lewis Hamilton 	Mercedes 		01:37.219       32 
 2  7 Kimi Räikkönen 	Ferrari 		01:37.662 0.443 35 
 3  3 Daniel Ricciardo 	Red Bull Racing 	01:38.311 1.092 24 
 4  5 Sebastian Vettel 	Ferrari 		01:38.339 1.120 30 
 5  6 Nico Rosberg 	Mercedes 		01:38.399 1.180 35 
 6 26 Daniil Kvyat 	Red Bull Racing 	01:38.737 1.518 10 
 7 77 Valtteri Bottas 	Williams 		01:38.850 1.631 27 
 8 12 Felipe Nasr 	Sauber 			01:39.032 1.813 26 
 9  8 Romain Grosjean 	Lotus 			01:39.142 1.923 32 
10 22 Jenson Button 	McLaren 		01:39.275 2.056 29 
11 13 Pastor Maldonado 	Lotus 			01:39.444 2.225 30 
12 14 Fernando Alonso 	McLaren 		01:39.743 2.524 27 
13  9 Marcus Ericsson 	Sauber 			01:39.751 2.532 33 
14 33 Max Verstappen 	Toro Rosso 		01:39.894 2.675 32 
15 55 Carlos Sainz 	Toro Rosso 		01:39.971 2.752 28 
16 27 Nico Hulkenberg 	Force India 		01:40.151 2.932 28 
17 19 Felipe Massa 	Williams 		01:40.423 3.204 7 
18 11 Sergio Perez 	Force India 		01:40.868 3.649 24 
19 98 Roberto Merhi 	Marussia 		01:42.973 5.754 27 
20 28 Will Stevens 	Marussia 		01:44.564 7.345 8