Max once more P8 during third free practice Austria

Published on 20 June 2015 by Mike Motilall

After Max Verstappen positioned himself twice already on the eighth spot on the Red Bull Ring, during the first two free practice sessions in Austria, he did the same again during the third free practice on Saturday morning with a 1:10.436. And again that made him the fastest Renault-driver. Sebastian Vettel in his Ferrari ended the session as the quickest, followed by Mercedes-driver Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen in the second Ferrari, on second and third.

“It went well in third free practice. On the softs it was very good but on the super softs it didn’t quite work out, because we were not able to do that many laps”, Max explains immediately after the third free practice to Verstappen.nl. What are your expectations for this afternoon’s qualifying? “We expect rain so I am curious.”

When the lights turn green at the end of the pits, in the vicinity of the circuit, there are clouds overhead threatening with a shower. Max does two installation laps before positioning himself briefly on P5 with a 1:12.173. Carlos Sainz relays on the radio that it’s raining in sector one and two, but the showers fail to really break through. After ten minutes Max does a 1:10.826 on the softs, behind both Mercedes, and is on P3.

Midsession Max goes out on the super softs, but is unable to improve in his first fast lap. Shortly afterwards, Fernando Alonso halts at the beginning of the straight and causes a code red. By then it has begun to rain but yet again it’s mere drizzling. In the meantime, Max has dropped to P8. When the track has been given ok again, both Mercedes, both Ferrari’s and Max in his Toro Rosso head out on track on the super soft tyres. The track has some soaking wet spots and Rosberg, and even Raikkonen some moments later, slide off but suffer no damages.

With twenty minutes remaining, the whole track is wet and only Nico Hulkenberg heads out on the intermediates. He makes a little trip beside the track and returns to the pits having actually done nothing. Time is ticking away and with some eight minutes remaining, Sainz and Vettel decide to go for it. Moments later Max - on full wets - does the same. Both Sainz and Vettel also took a little excursion beside the circuit, on track the Spaniard even made a little spin. Both drive away unscathed and are able to continue on.

Shortly before the end of the session, we see more drivers heading out on track. Max is in his element and seems to be doing a race with Raikkonen in his Ferrari. The Fin has no answer to his speed and is forced to bow his head and watch how the young Dutchman disappears in the horizon. When the flag drops, most of the drivers that are on track, including Max, do a practice start. Concluding the preparations for qualifying, later on during the day.

Red Bull Ring – Austrian Grand Prix – Saturday 20 June

 P No Driver             Team          Time     Gap   Laps 
 1  5 Sebastian Vettel   Ferrari       1:09.994         16 
 2 44 Lewis Hamilton     Mercedes      1:10.011 +0.017s 16 
 3  7 Kimi Räikkönen     Ferrari       1:10.177 +0.183s 12 
 4 11 Sergio Perez       Force India   1:10.221 +0.227s 14 
 5  6 Nico Rosberg       Mercedes      1:10.332 +0.338s 23 
 6 19 Felipe Massa       Williams      1:10.408 +0.414s 18 
 7 77 Valtteri Bottas    Williams      1:10.417 +0.423s 14 
 8 33 Max Verstappen     Toro Rosso    1:10.436 +0.442s 23 
 9 13 Pastor Maldonado   Lotus         1:10.576 +0.582s 12 
10  8 Romain Grosjean    Lotus         1:10.863 +0.869s  8 
11 27 Nico Hulkenberg    Force India   1:11.009 +1.015s 14 
12  9 Marcus Ericsson    Sauber        1:11.058 +1.064s 22 
13 55 Carlos Sainz       Toro Rosso    1:11.139 +1.145s 18 
14 26 Daniil Kvyat       Red Bull      1:11.139 +1.145s 14 
15 14 Fernando Alonso    McLaren       1:11.168 +1.174s 13 
16  3 Daniel Ricciardo   Red Bull      1:11.819 +1.825s 10 
17 12 Felipe Nasr        Sauber        1:11.906 +1.912s  9 
18 22 Jenson Button      McLaren       1:12.616 +2.622s 16 
19 28 Will Stevens       Marussia      1:13.328 +3.334s 14 
20 98 Roberto Merhi      Marussia      1:13.960 +3.966s  8

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 Austrian Grand Prix here. 

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