Max searching for grip in FP3 (P9)

Published on 19 September 2015 by Mike Motilall

As darkness fell, slowly but surely, the third free practice, for the Singapore Grand Prix, took place on the Marina Bay streetcircuit. Max Verstappen noted the ninth fastest time, immediately behind his teammate Carlos Sainz. The Ferrari-duo Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen were strikingly enough leading the pack.

The Scuderia Toro Rosso STR10, has been outfitted with some necessary updates this weekend. “We have new front- and rearwings and a new floor”, says Max. “It’s quite a lot, but it should help us make some progress.”

During the third and last free practice, in the run up to the race, Max, just likes his peers, gets on track with the softs strapped on. He immediately has ‘a moment’ in turn seven, where he locks up a front wheel and misses the turn. He is able to continue on, and is also making tracks. With a 1:48.392, he notes, in the early stages, the second time, as Daniil Kvyat puts his Red Bull on P1. That remains the case until the Mercedes, after a little over twenty minutes, split the duo.

When the session is about halfway and Max is about to undertake his second run, he reports to his team that he is struggling with the front of the car. On the used set of tyres, he fails to improve his time and the seventh spot is where ends up on. “I need more front bite in the car, especially in the low speed corners where it is very easy to front lock”, Max tells his race-engineer. Max is still P7, even with his previous lap.

With some ten minutes remaining, it’s time to simulate qualifying and the entire field straps on Pirelli’s supersoft compound. For obvious reasons, everyone is quicker and a 1:47.464 puts Max in the ninth place. The Ferrari’s are surprisingly the quickest, ahead of both Red Bulls (Kvyat and Daniel Ricciardo). Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg fail to get pass P5 and P6, but it’s anyone’s guess if Mercedes has shown their true speed.

Marina Bay Street Circuit - Singapore Grand Prix - 19 September 2015:

 RESULTS FREE PRACTICE 3 
 P  No Driver             Team          Time     Gap   Laps 
 1   5 Sebastian Vettel   Ferrari       1:45.682         12 
 2   7 Kimi Räikkönen     Ferrari       1:46.132 +0.450s 12 
 3  26 Daniil Kvyat       Red Bull      1:46.167 +0.485s 19 
 4   3 Daniel Ricciardo   Red Bull      1:46.359 +0.677s 14 
 5  44 Lewis Hamilton     Mercedes      1:46.802 +1.120s 15 
 6   6 Nico Rosberg       Mercedes      1:47.223 +1.541s 16 
 7  14 Fernando Alonso    McLaren       1:47.237 +1.555s 14 
 8  55 Carlos Sainz       Toro Rosso    1:47.301 +1.619s 18 
 9  33 Max Verstappen     Toro Rosso    1:47.464 +1.782s 17 
10   9 Marcus Ericsson    Sauber        1:47.568 +1.886s 20 
11  77 Valtteri Bottas    Williams      1:47.587 +1.905s 20 
12  27 Nico Hulkenberg    Force India   1:47.640 +1.958s 16 
13  22 Jenson Button      McLaren       1:47.715 +2.033s 14 
14  19 Felipe Massa       Williams      1:47.733 +2.051s 21 
15  13 Pastor Maldonado   Lotus         1:47.817 +2.135s 16 
16  11 Sergio Perez       Force India   1:48.002 +2.320s 15 
17   8 Romain Grosjean    Lotus         1:48.116 +2.434s 15 
18  12 Felipe Nasr        Sauber        1:48.932 +3.250s 20 
19  53 Alexander Rossi    Marussia      1:52.588 +6.906s 26 
20  28 Will Stevens       Marussia      1:55.293 +9.611s 22

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 Singapore Grand Prix here.

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