Second practice rained out. Max: “Perfect first day in Monaco”

Published on 21 May 2015 by Mike Motilall

Max Verstappen finished seventh in the rained out second free practice in the run-up to the Grand Prix of Monaco. Just like his peers, the Dutchman only drove some twelve laps. Nobody wanted to take the risk of getting into a slip on the narrow street circuit.

“It was a good day today, I built it up slowly in the first practice because it was all new for me, but I felt really good in the car immediately. This gave me a lot of confidence and to finish the morning session in P2 made me feel great! In the afternoon it was a bit of a shame that it rained, as we couldn’t complete as many laps as we wanted, but to still finish in P7 is not bad, I can be happy with my first day driving here in Monaco.”

At the start of the second free practice, we see quite a number of drivers miss a lot of turns. Kimi Raikkonen, Pastor Maldonado and Sebastian Vettel all go over the line. But it never ended up sour. Max is in a good flow and notes the second time in his sixth lap. With his team mate Carlos Sainz on P1, this causes, for a brief moment, a unique sight on the leaderboard.

As the lap times keep dropping, Max does a 1:18.782 on the soft compound tyres, good enough for P7. But a few minutes later, the session is over as Roberto Merhi, when exiting the tunnel, under braking, loses control of his Marussia. The Spaniard hits the guard rails and damages his nose and suspension. Triggering a code red.

As the seconds tick away to quarter past two, and the marshalls recovering the Marussia, it starts raining in Monte Carlo. Resulting in utter silence, as no one wants to venture out on the slippery track. Getting into trouble is easily done in these circumstances and the predictions are such that it will remain dry the coming weekend. The first sound to break the silence is heard an hour later: the crowd whistling. The crowd starts to wonder why there are no cars on track as it has gotten dry by now.

Eventually every one heads out to the track in the final ten minutes on the still wet asphalt. A few on the full wets, but the majority on the intermediates. The Red Bull Racing-drivers appear to be having the upper hand, but it is clear that the full wets are not the right choice of tyres in these circumstances.

It goes without saying that the times are not improved any more leaving Mercedes at the front, with Lewis Hamilton in front of Nico Rosberg. Both Ferrari’s finish third and fourth. Daniil Kvyat is the first Red Bull Racing-car on P5, followed by Sainz (Scuderia Toro Rosso), who, in turn, has Max to his rear, just a tenth away. But given the few laps that have been driven, it does not say much.

Monaco Grand Prix – Circuit de Monaco – Thursday 21 May

 FREE PRACTICE 2
 P No Driver             Team          Time     Gap  Laps 
 1 44 Lewis Hamilton     Mercedes      1:17.192        11 
 2  6 Nico Rosberg       Mercedes      1:17.932 +0.740 14 
 3  5 Sebastian Vettel   Ferrari       1:18.295 +1.103 13 
 4  7 Kimi Räikkönen     Ferrari       1:18.543 +1.351 14 
 5 26 Daniil Kvyat       Red Bull      1:18.548 +1.356 16 
 6 55 Carlos Sainz       Toro Rosso    1:18.659 +1.467 13 
 7 33 Max Verstappen     Toro Rosso    1:18.782 +1.590 11 
 8 14 Fernando Alonso    McLaren       1:18.906 +1.714 17 
 9 27 Nico Hulkenberg    Force India   1:19.151 +1.959 12 
10  8 Romain Grosjean    Lotus         1:19.266 +2.074 12 
11 11 Sergio Perez       Force India   1:19.300 +2.108 12 
12 19 Felipe Massa       Williams      1:19.560 +2.368 14 
13 77 Valtteri Bottas    Williams      1:19.566 +2.374 13 
14 13 Pastor Maldonado   Lotus         1:19.577 +2.385 12 
15 22 Jenson Button      McLaren       1:19.606 +2.414 13 
16  3 Daniel Ricciardo   Red Bull      1:19.639 +2.447 13 
17 12 Felipe Nasr        Sauber        1:20.263 +3.071 10 
18 98 Roberto Merhi      Marussia      1:22.017 +4.825  9 
19 28 Will Stevens       Marussia      1:22.943 +5.751 12 

On Twitter and Facebook we'll keep you updated throughout the weekend followed by a full report on Verstappen.nl at the end of the day’s action.

You can find the schedule for the Monaco Grand Prix here. 

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