Verstappen eighth in first practice: “Laptimes will be dropping”
Published on 13 November 2015 by Mike Motilall
Max Verstappen drove the eighth fastest time in the Brazilian Grand Prix during the first free practice. On the 4309 meter long Autódromo José Carlos Pace, the Dutchman noted a 1:14.960. Both Scuderia Toro Rosso’s did some 38 laps, making good mileage as a preparation for the race. Lewis Hamilton, being the fastest in his Mercedes, was 1.4 seconds faster than Verstappen.
Still, Max looks back with contentment to his first free practice. Immediately after the training, he tells Verstappen.nl in a brief response: “It went reasonably well. The track was slippery, but in general we have been able to do many laps. The balance is not quite optimum yet, but the track is developing. We’re expecting it to get better. The circuit feels quite slippier than last year, so the laptimes will be dropping.” What’s the plan for the second free practice? “Trying to improve the balance and do long runs!”
When the lights turn green, it takes a while before the Mercedes and Toro Rosso’s engage in their first installation laps on the circuit. Having stayed in the pits for about ten minutes, Max steers his STR10 on track. Instead of doing a single installation lap, the youngster immediately does a timed one: 1:17.966. Only to promptly improve this to a 1:16.157. He was busy improving himself when his engineer Xevi Pujolar gets on the radio to tell him to ease off inorder to cool his engine.
Moments later, we see the Toro Rosso-driver spin heavily in the Curva do Sol. It is quite comparable to the one in the first free practice one year ago, only this time, Max needs to stop the car to get it back on track. Sebastian Vettel is also pushing the limits, as we often see drivers do in the first practice. Just before the first set of Pirelli’s needs to be returned, Max marginally improves his best time so far to a: 1:16.121.
After about fifteen minutes, Max settles in. On a fresh set of the medium compound tyres, he notes a 1:14.960. The fourth fastest time so far. He is quick in the second sector, but in the third sector - where topspeed is of the essence – he is almost three tenths slower than his peers. Having done a few laps on the set of tyres, he reports to the team that the medium compound tyre loses grip already after just one lap: “Then they are constant for some laps, and after that they degrade lap by lap”, says the 18-year old race talent. After twelve laps, Max calls it quits and heads fort he pits.
With a little over fifteen minutes left, Verstappen heads out on track again, for the third time now, on the same set of tyres. In the Curva do Laranjinha the Dutchman locks up his front right, but no damage is done. He doesn’t improve his time anymore and after 38 laps, he finishes in eighth.
Kimi Raikkonen has a moment, when, at the end of the Reta Oposta, he loses the rear of his Ferrari during breaking. The Fin gets in the gravel but manages to keep his Ferrari out of the barriers. Jenson Button nearly runs into his fellow countryman Jolyon Palmer, when the Lotus-driver is sent out by his team and clearly overlooking the McLaren-driver. It’s the last incident in a predominantly calm free practice.
The difference between Daniel Ricciardo’s and Daniil Kvyat’s Red Bull, is two tenths of a second in this practice. The Ozzie is using an updated Renault-engine for the first time and will have to take a grid penalty for this. His team mate is still using the old engine, which is considered to be some two tenths slower than the new engine.
Autódromo José Carlos Pace – Brazilian Grand Prix – Friday 13 November 2015
Results First Free Practice P No Driver Team Time Gap Laps 1 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:13.543 28 2 6 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:14.062 +0.519s 36 3 5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:14.168 +0.625s 27 4 3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:14.449 +0.906s 27 5 7 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:14.549 +1.006s 20 6 26 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull 1:14.696 +1.153s 25 7 77 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:14.886 +1.343s 25 8 33 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso 1:14.960 +1.417s 38 9 27 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:15.174 +1.631s 33 10 13 Pastor Maldonado Lotus 1:15.192 +1.649s 31 11 55 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:15.314 +1.771s 38 12 30 Jolyon Palmer Lotus 1:15.352 +1.809s 33 13 22 Jenson Button McLaren 1:15.379 +1.836s 28 14 12 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:15.381 +1.838s 29 15 11 Sergio Perez Force India 1:15.408 +1.865s 32 16 14 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:15.413 +1.870s 29 17 19 Felipe Massa Williams 1:15.469 +1.926s 24 18 9 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:15.798 +2.255s 34 19 53 Alexander Rossi Marussia 1:17.860 +4.317s 23 20 28 Will Stevens Marussia 1:18.090 +4.547s 22
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