Max disappointed after P15 in qualifying
Published on 26 September 2015 by Stefan Meens
Max Verstappen ended qualifying to the Japanese Grand Prix in a disappointing fifteenth position. After he clocked the eighth fastest time in Q1, his STR10 lost all electric power forcing the Dutchman to park his car in the grass. At the front, Mercedes dominated qualifying with Nico Rosberg claiming pole position ahead of team mate Lewis Hamilton, followed by Valtteri Bottas in the Williams.
“All of a sudden I lost all electrical power, my display switched off”, explains Max to Verstappen.nl, “I was unable to do anything about it. It's very frustrating, I think this is the fifth time that I've issues like this in qualifying so we're forced to start from the back again. But I wont give up. Hopefully I can work my way to the front.”
It is dry when Q1 gets under way and Max is straight out of the box, to put a lap on the board on the harder compound. After every one set a lap, the 17-year-old is in eighth. He then decides to put on the faster medium tyres and improves his lap (1:34.522).
Just when everyone thinks the first part of qualifying is wrapped up, Max' Toro Rosso is awkwardly parked at the exit of the hairpin. Due to battery issues the car has switched itself of. It means the youngster's qualifying ends prematurely in Q1.
Both Manors, Saubers and Jenson Button (McLaren) are out of qualifying as we enter Q2 in which Carlos Sainz, Nico Hulkenberg, Pastor Maldonado and Fernando Alonso the drivers to miss out on the final part of qualifying,
Nico Rosberg is the first put a flying lap in during Q3, in which Sergio Perez and Daniil Kvyat decide to skip their first run. This strategy choice backfires when the latter smashes his Red Bull on his only timed lap. The Russian dips his two left wheels on to the grass in the run down to the hairpin. He loses control and crashes hard into the barriers resulting the car to roll. Kvyat is ok but the same cannot be said of his car and the session is therefore red flagged.
With over half a minute left on the clock, there is no point restarting qualifying which means Rosberg takes pole ahead of Hamilton and Bottas.
Suzuka - Japanese Grand Prix - 26 September 2015
RESULTS QUALIFYING P No Driver Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Laps 1 6 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:33.015 1:32.632 1:32.584 16 2 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:32.844 1:32.789 1:32.660 15 3 77 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:34.326 1:33.416 1:33.024 11 4 5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:34.431 1:33.844 1:33.245 11 5 19 Felipe Massa Williams 1:34.744 1:33.377 1:33.337 12 6 7 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:34.171 1:33.361 1:33.347 10 7 3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:34.399 1:34.153 1:33.497 17 8 8 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:34.398 1:34.278 1:33.967 19 9 11 Sergio Perez Force India 1:35.001 1:34.174 16 10 26 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull 1:34.646 1:34.201 15 11 27 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:35.328 1:34.390 13 12 55 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:34.873 1:34.453 15 13 13 Pastor Maldonado Lotus 1:34.796 1:34.497 13 14 14 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:35.467 1:34.785 8 15 33 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso 1:34.522 8 16 22 Jenson Button McLaren 1:35.664 6 17 9 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:35.673 5 18 12 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:35.760 6 19 28 Will Stevens Marussia 1:38.783 5 20 53 Alexander Rossi Marussia 1:47.114 5
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