Max happy with car balance in Chinese qualification despite P13

Published on 11 April 2015 by Mike Motilall

Max Verstappen saw his qualification for the Chinese Grand Prix end in the second session and will start the race thirteenth. A locked up front wheel prevented the Scuderia Toro Rosso-driver to improve his time. However, Max was a tenth quicker than his team mate Carlos Sainz, who is on P14.

“The thirteenth spot is not where we belong”, says Max to Verstappen.nl. “A locked up front wheel prevented me from making it into the third session of the qualification, so in Sunday’s race we have our work cut out for us. I am happy with the progress we made. I was searching for the exact balance in the car and we found it during the qualification. Right on time.”

Max starts the first part of the qualification on the medium compound tyres. Although his 1:40.580 was initially good enough for P9, at the end of Q1 he has dropped to P16 and finds himself suddenly in the dropzone. Toro Rosso sends him out again, just before the checkered flag, on the softs; with a 1:38.387 Max climbs to the sixth position. Ensuring participation in Q2.

Max: “After the last free practice all looked better. In Q1 I had the right speed and I was, for the first time this weekend, happy with the car’s balance. We have had to work hard to achieve that as this is a very tricky circuit.”

In the second session of the qualification, the remaining fifteen drivers all used the softer compound tyres from the word go. The 1:38.393 that Verstappen noted, is good enough for the fifth position, but lap times keep getting improved. Being in the pit box, Max drops to P13. During the closing of the session the Dutchman heads out again, but he is not able to improve his time. The reason for this is to be found in the second sector, where Max enters turn six with a locked up front right, during braking.

As a consequence, Max remains thirteenth. Together with his team mate Carlos Sainz (1:38.538, P14), they take up the seventh grid row for the race, that will take place this Sunday, at 8 o’clock Dutch time. Max concludes: “My first lap in Q2 was good, but on my second set of tyres I was not able to improve myself, because of that locked up wheel in turn six. That was a pity, because we had potential to get in Q3. In any case, the cars are closely matched, but our race pace is good, so I am convinced we can go for points.”

Lewis Hamilton reigns supreme in China and grabs pole position by beating his Mercedes-team mate Nico Rosberg by just a tenth of a second. It is his third consecutive pole position for the reigning British World champion, in as much qualifications in 2015. On the third spot, is Sebastian Vettel in his Ferrari, in front of the Williams’ of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas.

Chinese Grand Prix – Shanghai International Circuit – Saturday 11 April

QUALIFYING RESULTS

 P No Name 		Team 			Q1 	 Q2 	  Q3       Laps 
 1 44 Lewis Hamilton 	Mercedes 		1:38.285 1:36.423 1:35.782 12 
 2  6 Nico Rosberg 	Mercedes 		1:38.496 1:36.747 1:35.824 12 
 3  5 Sebastian Vettel 	Ferrari 		1:37.502 1:36.957 1:36.687 17 
 4 19 Felipe Massa 	Williams 		1:38.433 1:37.357 1:36.954 15 
 5 77 Valtteri Bottas 	Williams 		1:38.014 1:37.763 1:37.143 15 
 6  7 Kimi Raikkonen 	Ferrari 		1:37.790 1:37.109 1:37.232 17 
 7  3 Daniel Ricciardo 	Red Bull Racing 	1:38.534 1:37.939 1:37.540 18 
 8  8 Romain Grosjean 	Lotus 			1:38.209 1:38.063 1:37.905 20 
 9 12 Felipe Nasr 	Sauber 			1:38.521 1:38.017 1:38.067 16 
10  9 Marcus Ericsson 	Sauber 			1:38.941 1:38.127 1:38.158 15 
11 13 Pastor Maldonado 	Lotus 			1:38.563 1:38.134   	   13 
12 26 Daniil Kvyat 	Red Bull Racing 	1:39.051 1:38.209   	   13 
13 33 Max Verstappen 	Toro Rosso 		1:38.387 1:38.393   	   14 
14 55 Carlos Sainz 	Toro Rosso 		1:38.622 1:38.538   	   14 
15 11 Sergio Perez 	Force India 		1:38.903 1:39.290   	   10 
16 27 Nico Hulkenberg 	Force India 		1:39.216     		   6 
17 22 Jenson Button 	McLaren 		1:39.276     		   6 
18 14 Fernando Alonso 	McLaren 		1:39.280     		   8 
19 28 Will Stevens 	Marussia 		1:42.091     		   6 
20 98 Roberto Merhi 	Marussia 		1:42.842     		   8 
      Q1 107% Time   				1:44.327

On Twitter and Facebook we'll keep you updated throughout the weekend followed by a full report on Verstappen.nl. You can find the schedule for the Chinese Grand Prix here.