Max sixth in wet FP1

Published on 25 September 2015 by Stefan Meens

In a rainy first practice session of the Japanese Grand Prix, Max Verstappen set the sixth fastest time in his Scuderia Toro Rosso. His team mate, Carlos Sainz, finished the session as the quickest man.

As the rain pours down on the iconic Suzuka circuit, the drivers head out on wet weather tyres on their installation laps. The treacherous conditions prevent the drivers from clocking flying laps. Max' first time is clocked just after the halfway point.

“There's quite a bit of grip”, says Max to team as he slides through the corners. He backs up his claims by posting lap times that are two seconds faster than Kimi Raikkonen and Carlos Sainz up until that point.

After five laps on the wet weather tyre, Max heads back to pits for intermediates. The Williams team are the first to send their drivers out on the inters. Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa struggle initially with the Finn almost losing the car going in to the Esses and the Brazilian missing his breaking point. Nevertheless, he finds his way back on track after a short trip through the gravel traps.

Just after one hour, Max has a go on the intermediates and posts his quickest lap of the session (1:50.940). After five laps on the inters, on one he goes wide at Spoon, the Dutchman calls time on his FP1 after just 10 laps.

At the end of the session it is Carlos Sainz who is fastest of the twelve drivers that set a time. Daniil Kvyat (Red Bull) and Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) are second and third.

Suzuka – Japanese Grand Prix - Friday 25 September 2015

 RESULTS FREE PRACTICE SESSION 1
 P  No Driver             Team          Time       Gap       Laps 
 1  55 Carlos Sainz       Toro Rosso    1:49.434             10 
 2  26 Daniil Kvyat       Red Bull      1:49.938   +0.504s    7 
 3   6 Nico Rosberg       Mercedes      1:50.077   +0.643s   14 
 4   5 Sebastian Vettel   Ferrari       1:50.519   +1.085s   12 
 5  44 Lewis Hamilton     Mercedes      1:50.722   +1.288s    6 
 6  33 Max Verstappen     Toro Rosso    1:50.940   +1.506s   10 
 7   7 Kimi Räikkönen     Ferrari       1:51.212   +1.778s   15 
 8  19 Felipe Massa       Williams      1:52.288   +2.854s   12 
 9   9 Marcus Ericsson    Sauber        1:53.820   +4.386s   12 
10  77 Valtteri Bottas    Williams      1:53.964   +4.530s   14 
11  12 Felipe Nasr        Sauber        1:54.013   +4.579s    9 
12  22 Jenson Button      McLaren       1:55.678   +6.244s    6 
13   3 Daniel Ricciardo   Red Bull                            1 
14  27 Nico Hulkenberg    Force India                         4 
15  11 Sergio Perez       Force India                         3 
16  14 Fernando Alonso    McLaren                             5 
17  13 Pastor Maldonado   Lotus                               1 
18  30 Jolyon Palmer      Lotus                               1 
19  28 Will Stevens       Marussia                            3 
20  53 Alexander Rossi    Marussia                            4 

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You can find the schedule for the Japanese Grand Prix here.

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