Bitter end to Max' impressive Chinese Grand Prix

Published on 12 April 2015 by Stefan Meens

Max Verstappen came agonisingly close to another points finish in his first Formula 1 season. At the Shanghai International circuit, the Scuderia Toro Rosso driver was four laps away from securing P8 after an impressive race, including several stunning overtakes. Unfortunately, Max' car came to a halt on the start/finish straight, ending his race prematurely.

“It's very frustrating”, said Max to Verstappen.nl. “Until the engine issues, it was a great race. If you're that close to finish in the points it's disappointing. But the car was really good today and I was very happy with the balance. As a team, I don’t think we could've done anything different.” 

As the lights fade, the race is of to a clean start. After the first lap it is Lewis Hamilton leading the way followed by team mate Nico Rosberg and the Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen. Meanwhile Max made up two places in the opening lap and has his sights set on Ericsson for P10.

In a truly stunning manoeuvre, the young Dutchman outbrakes the Swede into the hairpin. Ericsson, like many onlookers did not expect the move as the Toro Rosso was unable to stay in the Sauber's slipstream on the long straight. Nevertheless, Max successfully executes the move leaving Ericsson stunned, resulting in the Sauber driver to miss shift exiting the hairpin.

“Overtaking is a feeling, I cant really explain it”, reveals Max. “I really liked the overtake on Ericsson. I braked very late and only just made the corner. I also enjoyed the other moves I pulled off. Like in Malaysia, I really enjoyed racing today. I feel comfortable and happy in the car, which is important.”

In the closing stages of the race, after most of the field have made their last pit stop, Max is still in ninth. However, Sergio Perez, running on a different strategy, is only a couple of seconds up the road. Max closes the gap and eyes up another overtake. The Mercedes power unit in the back of the Force India prevents Max from passing Perez down the long straight into the hairpin. After studying the Mexican's lines for a few laps, Max therefore opts to overtake in twisty section of the Shanghai International Circuit. In a commanding move, Max sends the STR10 up the inside of Perez into turn five and leads the Force India into turn six, gaining P8 in the process.

“We didn’t have enough top speed but the STR10 is very strong in the corners, so I had to take my chances by outbraking others. The braking and the downforce we have on the car is really good and that helped me to complete some good overtakes, which I enjoyed a lot.”

After clearing Perez, Max controls the pace as he maintains a four second lead on Nasr and trails Lotus' Romain Grosjean by over five seconds. The Dutchman is set to bring the car home for a solid points finish but with three laps to go we see Max hop out of a smoking Toro Rosso on the start/finish straight.

The awkward position of the car, combined with a slapstick performance by the marshals to manoeuvre the STR10 through the pit wall, forces race control to send out the safety car, granting Lewis Hamilton a deserved win.

The reigning world champions takes his second win of the campaign, finishing ahead of Rosberg with Sebastian Vettel completing the top three. Max' team mate Carlos Sainz finished an eventful and unfortunate race in fourteenth.

Chinese Grand Prix – Shanghai International Circuit – Sunday 12 April

RACE RESULTS
1 	Lewis Hamilton 	        GBR 	Mercedes 	1:39:42.008 	25
2 	Nico Rosberg 		GER 	Mercedes 	+0.714s 	18
3 	Sebastian Vettel 	GER 	Ferrari 	+2.988s 	15
4 	Kimi Räikkönen 	        FIN 	Ferrari 	+3.835s 	12
5 	Felipe Massa 		BRA 	Williams 	+8.544s 	10
6 	Valtteri Bottas 	FIN 	Williams 	+9.885s 	8
7 	Romain Grosjean 	FRA 	Lotus 		+19.008s 	6
8 	Felipe Nasr 		BRA 	Sauber 		+22.625s 	4
9 	Daniel Ricciardo 	AUS 	Red Bull 	+32.117s 	2
10 	Marcus Ericsson 	SWE 	Sauber 		+1 lap 		1
11 	Sergio Perez 		MEX 	Force India 	+1 lap 		0
12 	Fernando Alonso 	ESP 	McLaren 	+1 lap 		0
13 	Jenson Button 		GBR 	McLaren 	+1 lap 		0
14 	Carlos Sainz 		ESP 	Toro Rosso 	+1 lap 		0
15 	Will Stevens 		GBR 	Marussia 	+2 laps 	0
16 	Roberto Merhi 		ESP 	Marussia 	+2 laps 	0
17 	Max Verstappen 	        NED 	Toro Rosso 	DNF 		0
RT 	Pastor Maldonado 	VEN 	Lotus 		DNF 		0
RT 	Daniil Kvyat 		RUS 	Red Bull 	DNF 		0
RT 	Nico Hulkenberg 	GER 	Force India 	DNF 	        0