Difficult FP2 for Verstappen: “Tough race for the tyres”

Published on 13 November 2015 by Mike Motilall

The second free practice for the Brazilian Grand Prix, was not without issues for Max Verstappen. The driver was searching for the right balance, but this was hard to find on Autódromo José Carlos Pace. The young driver even spun his car and didn’t even get pass a 1:14.266, good enough for the fourteenth spot. Mercedes-driver Nico Rosberg was the quickest; 1.8 seconds faster than Max.

After having been happy with his first free practice, Max, nevertheless, had some critique after his second practice during his talk with Verstappen.nl: “It was a reasonable day, it was not the best day as we still need to find more time. But we were able to do some good mileage today, which is very important. Because it will be a difficult race regarding the tyres.” How did you build up the practice session? “We immediately went out on the harder compound tyres, as rain was expected. We had done some adjustments on the car, but they eventually did not work out well. After that we went out on the softer compound and immediately there was a red flag. This affected the tyres hugely. Apart from that, the balance on the softs was not good at all.” Despite that, Max is optimistic for the remainder of the weekend: “Tomorrow there will  be new opportunities!”

When it’s go time, Max immediately heads out for a long run, as he had announced just after the first free practice. His opening lap is one with a 1:15.410. The young Dutchman is lapping the track on the medium compound tyres without actually improving his time. A few droplets make it to the ground, but the drivers don’t seem to care. After ten laps, Max pits and finishes his run.

As he is about to venture out for his second run, this time on the softer compound, Fernando Alonso triggers a red flag as his McLaren abruptly halts. Flames bellow out from the Honda engine unit, assuring the engineers will have some extra work on their hands this evening. With still 51 minutes left, the track is cleared again and the majority of the drivers take to the track once more.

As expected, on the softs, the times start dropping. The Mercedes, at the front of the field, do 1:12’s. Max opens with a 1:14.226, also on the softs. That the balance in the STR10 is not quite what it should be, is obvious from the message from Max to his race-engineer Xevi Pujolar: “The car is hard to drive”, the Dutchman reports on the radio

Moments later, Max spins in turn seven. Just like in the first free practice, he loses control of the rear of the car. Again he is heard complaining on the radio, this time about the lack of grip at the rear of his Toro Rosso. He pits again and with a little over half an hour to go, Max re-emerges on track on the medium compound.

Rosberg loses the optimum of his tyres with some fifteen minutes to go, he shoots off track in turns ten and twelve. Also Grosjean and Ericsson take some excursions beside the track.

Max’ tyres are by now 21 laps old, when the Toro Rosso-driver gets on the radio again: “My tyres are completely gone: the front and rear.” It is safe to say, by now, that the race will be a massacre for the tyres. Verstappen doesn’t improve his time anymore and steers his STR10, with four minutes remaining, into the pits. He has driven 35 laps and finishes in fourteenth.

Autódromo José Carlos Pace – Brazilian Grand Prix – Friday 13 November 2015

 Results Second Free Practice
 P No Driver             Team          Time     Gap   Laps 
 1  6 Nico Rosberg       Mercedes      1:12.385         42 
 2 44 Lewis Hamilton     Mercedes      1:12.843 +0.458s 39 
 3  5 Sebastian Vettel   Ferrari       1:13.345 +0.960s 41 
 4  7 Kimi Räikkönen     Ferrari       1:13.500 +1.115s 43 
 5  3 Daniel Ricciardo   Red Bull      1:13.585 +1.200s 39 
 6 77 Valtteri Bottas    Williams      1:13.603 +1.218s 37 
 7  8 Romain Grosjean    Lotus         1:13.634 +1.249s 45 
 8 27 Nico Hulkenberg    Force India   1:13.710 +1.325s 43 
 9 26 Daniil Kvyat       Red Bull      1:13.848 +1.463s 40 
10 19 Felipe Massa       Williams      1:13.870 +1.485s 42 
11 11 Sergio Perez       Force India   1:14.056 +1.671s 34 
12 13 Pastor Maldonado   Lotus         1:14.124 +1.739s 42 
13 12 Felipe Nasr        Sauber        1:14.134 +1.749s 44 
14 33 Max Verstappen     Toro Rosso    1:14.226 +1.841s 35 
15 55 Carlos Sainz       Toro Rosso    1:14.326 +1.941s 45 
16 22 Jenson Button      McLaren       1:14.644 +2.259s 37 
17  9 Marcus Ericsson    Sauber        1:14.772 +2.387s 38 
18 14 Fernando Alonso    McLaren       1:15.129 +2.744s 10 
19 28 Will Stevens       Marussia      1:16.501 +4.116s 35 
20 53 Alexander Rossi    Marussia      1:16.787 +4.402s 35

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