Max 12th in qualification, but starting last: “I will do my best”

Published on 06 June 2015 by Mike Motilall

Max Verstappen qualified twelfth in the Canadian Grand Prix. But, due to two penalties, amounting to a total of a 15-place grid penalty, he will have to start the race from the back. Besides that, he will also get a 10 seconds time penalty, to be taken during a pitstop.

At the front, as usual for this season, there were no match for the Mercedes, with Lewis Hamilton leading the pack. Team mate Nico Rosberg joins the pole sitter on the front row when the lights go out on Sunday at 20.00 hrs. Dutch time.

“I am pleased with P12, because we made a good step forward compared to the practices”, Max shares with Verstappen.nl. “The balance was better and the car felt better, so I am happy with that. If we were able to make some more progress, Q3 would definitely have been possible. During Q2, I had some understeer, causing me to have some issues with the first two corners.”

 “We knew that Montreal would be hard for us in terms of top speed, so we have to try and modify that with the downforce level.” Max explains: “So we basically take away a bit of our strength. All in all, I am happy with what we achieved in qualifying.”

Looking forward to the race, Max says: "It will be a good race to practice my overtaking skills. I hope I have the speed for that on the straights. It will not be an easy race. A safety car is more than welcome, giving me an opportunity to pitt and take my ten seconds time penalty. I will do my best.”

During the first part of the qualifying session, Max straps on two sets of the super soft tyres. On those he is able to do top ten times and with a 1:16.677, he effortlessly makes it to Q2 being seventh. Meanwhile, Jenson Button is stuck in his pitbox as the Honda-engine of his McLaren is being changed. Others that didn’t make the cut, are the likes of: Will Stevens, Roberto Merhi, Felipe Massa and Sebastian Vettel on P16. The last two names rather stand out. Both the Williams- and Ferrari-drivers are heard talking about a loss of power on the radio and are just not fast enough.

During Q2, the target is to get among the first ten. Max is driving his pants off, but his 1:16.361 and with only four minutes on the clock, is not good enough. In the final lap, the Dutchman manages to squeeze out a 1:16.245, but he is still some tenths shy of making it to the finals. Max finishes twelfth in qualifying, directly behind his team mate Carlos Sainz. Also Felipe Nasr, Fernando Alonso and Marcus Ericsson failed to make it to Q3.

The fight for pole by the final ten drivers is mere a fight between the Mercedes, in which Hamilton immediately has the upperhand. Rosberg is no match for the time put down by the World Champion. Kimi Raikkonen, in his Ferrari, is best of the rest, in front of Valtteri Bottas amd both Lotus. Nico Hulkenberg, Daniil Kvyat, Daniel Ricciardo and Sergio Perez complete the top ten.

Canadian Grand Prix – Circuit Gilles Villeneuve – Saturday 6 June

 P  No Driver             Team          Q1       Q2       Q3     Laps 
 1  44 Lewis Hamilton     Mercedes      1:15.895 1:14.661 1:14.393 21 
 2   6 Nico Rosberg       Mercedes      1:15.893 1:14.673 1:14.702 19 
 3   7 Kimi Raikkonen     Ferrari       1:16.259 1:15.348 1:15.014 19 
 4  77 Valtteri Bottas    Williams      1:16.552 1:15.506 1:15.102 18 
 5   8 Romain Grosjean    Lotus         1:15.833 1:15.187 1:15.194 20 
 6  13 Pastor Maldonado   Lotus         1:16.098 1:15.622 1:15.329 26 
 7  27 Nico Hulkenberg    Force India   1:16.186 1:15.706 1:15.614 21 
 8  26 Daniil Kvyat       Red Bull      1:16.415 1:15.891 1:16.079 27 
 9   3 Daniel Ricciardo   Red Bull      1:16.410 1:16.006 1:16.114 23 
10  11 Sergio Perez       Force India   1:16.827 1:15.974 1:16.336 23 
11  55 Carlos Sainz       Toro Rosso    1:16.611 1:16.042          19 
12  33 Max Verstappen     Toro Rosso    1:16.361 1:16.245          20 
13   9 Marcus Ericsson    Sauber        1:16.796 1:16.262          20 
14  14 Fernando Alonso    McLaren       1:17.012 1:16.276          18 
15  12 Felipe Nasr        Sauber        1:16.968 1:16.620          18 
16   5 Sebastian Vettel   Ferrari       1:17.344                    6 
17  19 Felipe Massa       Williams      1:17.886                    9 
18  98 Roberto Merhi      Marussia      1:19.133                   11 
19  28 Will Stevens       Marussia      1:19.157                   10 

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