Max in P11 in final free practice in Mexico

Published on 31 October 2015 by Mike Motilall

During the final free practice for the Mexican Grand Prix, Max Verstappen made up for having kissed the wall at the start of his run, in the second session on Friday. The youngster drove the eleventh time and with that almost one second slower than Nico Rosberg, who claimed P1 in his Mercedes. World champion Lewis Hamilton was second with Daniel Ricciardo’s Red Bull in third.

The running began in sunshine in Mexico, when the lights turn green at the end of the pit lane. Max is an early bird, as he heads out, and notes the fastest time in his first timed lap. The most drivers do the first part of the session on the medium compound tyres. Max also, besides that, he keeps improving his times and has no issues running with the top ten.

After fifteen minutes, it is Kimi Raikkonen who triggers some yellow flags. There is smoke bellowing from the Ferrari’s engine bay and the Fin is forced to park his car alongside the track. Max informs his team on the radio that it is still slippery and that the conditions are very difficult. After just about half an hour, it is, surprisingly, both Red Bull cars that are leading the pack. Max has dropped back to P15 by now. Team mate Carlos Sainz is two positions up in P13.

After a short visit in the pits, Max heads out on the softs for a long run and jumps to P3. Moments later he even climbs to P2. At that moment, it is Sebastian Vettel in his Ferrari who is in P1. In his hunt for a faster lap time, we see Max slightly miss turn 12. This has no consequence but he is not alone. We see many drivers lock up everywhere on track and missing corners.

In the final fifteen minutes, most drivers head out to simulate a qualifying run; and times get improved everywhere. Even Max improves himself and briefly clocks the fifth time. At the end of the session, he has fallen back to P11 with his Scuderia Toro Rosso team mate in P8.

Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez  – Mexican Grand Prix – Saturday 31 October 2015

 RESULTS FINAL FREE PRACTICE 
 P No Driver             Team          Time     Gap   Laps
 1  6 Nico Rosberg       Mercedes      1:21.083         23
 2 44 Lewis Hamilton     Mercedes      1:21.097 +0.014s 23
 3  3 Daniel Ricciardo   Red Bull      1:21.201 +0.118s 21
 4  5 Sebastian Vettel   Ferrari       1:21.294 +0.211s 24
 5 26 Daniil Kvyat       Red Bull      1:21.530 +0.447s 27
 6 11 Sergio Perez       Force India   1:21.603 +0.520s 27
 7 77 Valtteri Bottas    Williams      1:21.772 +0.689s 26
 8 55 Carlos Sainz       Toro Rosso    1:21.775 +0.692s 28
 9 19 Felipe Massa       Williams      1:21.945 +0.862s 27
10 27 Nico Hulkenberg    Force India   1:22.010 +0.927s 25
11 33 Max Verstappen     Toro Rosso    1:22.039 +0.956s 31
12 13 Pastor Maldonado   Lotus         1:22.042 +0.959s 21
13  8 Romain Grosjean    Lotus         1:22.184 +1.101s 24
14  9 Marcus Ericsson    Sauber        1:22.871 +1.788s 30
15 14 Fernando Alonso    McLaren       1:23.065 +1.982s 26
16 12 Felipe Nasr        Sauber        1:23.067 +1.984s 23
17  7 Kimi Räikkönen     Ferrari       1:24.648 +3.565s  4
18 28 Will Stevens       Marussia      1:25.654 +4.571s 20
19 53 Alexander Rossi    Marussia      1:28.176 +7.093s  8
20 22 Jenson Button      McLaren       1:29.336 +8.253s  4 

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