Max remains in top 10 in FP2
Published on 18 September 2015 by Stefan Meens
After finishing seventh in FP1, Max Verstappen continued to impress with P10 in the second free practice session of the Singapore Grand Prix. The fastest man around the Marina Bay Street Circuit in the final Friday session was not a Mercedes driver but Daniil Kvyat. Kimi Raikkonen and Daniel Ricciardo completed the top three.
“I had to learn the track so I took it easy in the beginning, but I was able to improve as time went on”, explains Max to Verstappen.nl. “I'm happy with the progress we made, I didn’t hit the wall and didn’t damage the car. FP2 went well on the soft tyre but we'll have to work on the balance when using the super softs. Physically the track is tougher than any of the other tracks I've driven. Even tougher than Malaysia."
As usual at the start of the second free practice session, the entire grid heads out on the harder of the two compounds. Only six minutes into the session, the red flag is shown. Like FP1, it is one of the Manors that is the cause of the interruption. His time it is Will Stevens who hits the barriers.
Once the session is resumed, Carlos Sainz is the next driver to run into trouble. The Toro Rosso driver hits the wall resulting in a left rear puncture. Nevertheless, the Spaniard is able to nurse his STR10 back to the pits.
Meanwhile, Kimi Raikkonen is the first driver to clock a lap on the super softs. Max follows but is not pleased with his run. He tells his race engineer Xevi Pujolar he does not feel the tyres give him more grip.
With half an hour to go, Max heads out on the softs while his team mate stays on the super softs. Both drivers opt for a long run. In his, Max misses his braking point forcing him off track. The Dutchman is however able to rejoin the track without issues. His team mate has bigger problems when he tells his team he has no power exiting the final corner. The Spaniard finishes the session in fifteenth.
Despite the Mercedes powered cars posting the highest top speeds, the top three at the end of FP2 consists of two Renault and one Ferrari powered car. Red Bull Racing's Kvyat and Ricciardo are split by Raikkonen's Ferrari. The usual front runners Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg are found in fourth and seventh.
Marina Bay Street Circuit - Singapore Grand Prix - 18 September 2015
RESULTS FREE PRACTICE 2 P No Driver Team Time Gap Laps 1 26 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull 1:46.142 34 2 7 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:46.181 +0.039s 34 3 3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:46.256 +0.114s 29 4 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:46.479 +0.337s 33 5 5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:46.487 +0.345s 35 6 11 Sergio Perez Force India 1:46.659 +0.517s 30 7 6 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:46.781 +0.639s 34 8 14 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:46.959 +0.817s 26 9 27 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:47.294 +1.152s 35 10 33 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso 1:47.427 +1.285s 32 11 19 Felipe Massa Williams 1:47.684 +1.542s 28 12 12 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:47.755 +1.613s 26 13 9 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:47.795 +1.653s 33 14 22 Jenson Button McLaren 1:47.888 +1.746s 28 15 55 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:48.012 +1.870s 23 16 8 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:48.096 +1.954s 32 17 77 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:48.118 +1.976s 28 18 13 Pastor Maldonado Lotus 1:50.094 +3.952s 30 19 53 Alexander Rossi Marussia 1:56.739 +10.597s 9 20 28 Will Stevens Marussia 1:59.932 +13.790s 3
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