Verstappen eighth despite being unhappy about set up

Published on 19 June 2015 by Mike Motilall

On Friday morning in Spielberg, at the Red Bull Ring, the Formula 1-teams did their first free practice for the Austrian Grand Prix. On the 4,326 meters long track, it was Nico Rosberg in his Mercedes who was the quickest during the morning session with a 1:10.401. Max Verstappen was clearly searching for a right balance, but still managed to pull off a 1:11.825 in his Scuderia Toro Rosso, which put him eighth.

“It is a very slippery track, it’s well known for that”, Max relays to Verstappen.nl immediately after the training. “It rained a lot this morning, but the practice session was luckily in the dry. We started off with a couple of wing adjustments. The first stint I drove with another wing, but in the second stint I was suffering from oversteer. The plan is to switch back to the first set up and we’ll take it from there.” So there is still room for improvement for the second free practice this afternoon? “Yes, this morning it was very slippery, and we had a lot of oversteer, this meant slipping and sliding. I am really searching for some grip. But, so far so good; we are hoping to continue like this in the second session.”

The training starts with some damp spots on the track, but that doesn’t make the drivers bring out the full wets or intermediates. In this session, again Romain Grosjean  needs to hand over control of his car to Jolyon Palmer. Prior to the start of the weekend, the Red Bull Racing-drivers already know they will have to play catch up coming Sunday: both Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat have installed their fifth power unit of this season in their cars. Causing them to take a ten-place grid penalty. McLaren also faces penalties for changing turbo’s, MGK-units and engines.

Fernando Alonso started his race weekend with a false start: during his installation lap he suffered engine issues, forcing him to ease his car to the pits. Fifteen minutes before the end of the session, he re-emerges on track.

In a first free practice it’s normal drivers push the limits. This causes Pastor Maldonado, Sergio Perez, Carlos Sainz and Kvyat, as well as others, to end up beside the track, but all are able to continue on. This is not the case for Sebastian Vettel, after just 24 minutes he is forced to park his Ferrari alongside the track with gearbox issues.

Max, after half an hour, has by then clocked a 1:12.442, resulting in the ninth time. Just two seconds shy of Rosberg, the quickest man at that moment. Maurizio Arrivabene, Ferrari’s team principal, has a brief moment when walking back from the pit wall to the pit box: after a practice pit stop, Felipe Massa is forced to hit the brakes hard in his Williams to avoid running over the Italian. Luckily, both sides walk away unscathed.

There are some drivers that still have balance issues in their cars. Lewis Hamilton, gets off track just before and right after the straight. Some moments later, Max does the same, handsomely drifting his STR10 on the straight. “I don’t know what’s happening, but the car is unbelievable hard to drive!”, Max calls out on the radio. “There's less grip in this configuration”, is the team’s reply, to which Max replies: "Well, it doesn't work.” In the following lap, Max clocks his fastest time: 1:12.199. The 1:11.825, that he does some moments later, putting him fourth, seems to prove him wrong.

Even after some adjustments to the car, the young driver is still not pleased. “The car is undriveable: so much oversteer in turn eight”, he relays on the radio, just before the session finishes. He isn’t able to improve his time and finishes the session eighth, 1.424 seconds shy of the fastest time. But Max puts down some 38 laps, far more than the rest.

Red Bull Ring – Austrian Grand Prix – Friday 19 June

 P No Driver             Team          Time     Gap   Laps 
 1  6 Nico Rosberg       Mercedes      1:10.401         36 
 2 44 Lewis Hamilton     Mercedes      1:10.709 +0.308s 28 
 3  7 Kimi Räikkönen     Ferrari       1:11.028 +0.627s 22 
 4 77 Valtteri Bottas    Williams      1:11.452 +1.051s 26 
 5 12 Felipe Nasr        Sauber        1:11.633 +1.232s 28 
 6 26 Daniil Kvyat       Red Bull      1:11.642 +1.241s 31 
 7  3 Daniel Ricciardo   Red Bull      1:11.724 +1.323s 29 
 8 33 Max Verstappen     Toro Rosso    1:11.825 +1.424s 38 
 9 19 Felipe Massa       Williams      1:11.890 +1.489s 29 
10 11 Sergio Perez       Force India   1:11.905 +1.504s 37 
11 55 Carlos Sainz       Toro Rosso    1:11.948 +1.547s 32 
12 13 Pastor Maldonado   Lotus         1:12.004 +1.603s 34 
13 27 Nico Hulkenberg    Force India   1:12.031 +1.630s 36 
14 30 Jolyon Palmer      Lotus         1:12.050 +1.649s 27 
15  9 Marcus Ericsson    Sauber        1:12.159 +1.758s 30 
16 22 Jenson Button      McLaren       1:12.920 +2.519s 30 
17 14 Fernando Alonso    McLaren       1:13.272 +2.871s 10 
18 28 Will Stevens       Marussia      1:13.937 +3.536s 29 
19 98 Roberto Merhi      Marussia      1:15.459 +5.058s 11 
20  5 Sebastian Vettel   Ferrari       1:15.684 +5.283s  4

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