Max tenth in final practice at Interlagos

Published on 14 November 2015 by Stefan Meens

Max Verstappen finished tenth in the final practice session of the Brazilian Grand Prix. Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton led the way ahead of team mate Nico Rosberg and Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel. Max' Toro Rosso collegue Carlos Sainz finished the session in P15.

After FP3, Max told Verstappen.nl: “It went a lot better today, and we've made some good steps in terms of setup. We showed good pace throughout the session and the tyres last longer. I'm very happy with that. We've changed the car so we have more grip on both the rear and the front but with the tyres lasting longer.”

Max is confident ahead of qualifying but remains realistic: “I think the Mercedes and Ferrari powered engines will add some power during qualifying so it's going to be really close. It's going to be a challenge to make it in to Q3.”

The third practice session gets under way under sunny and dry conditions. Nevertheless, Max does not head out until fifteen minutes into the session. The Dutchman clocks his first lap on a set of mediums and sits in second behind Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari. As the rest of the grid starts banking lap times, Max remains in the top half of the timing sheets.

Thirty minutes into the session, the Toro Rosso youngsters begins another stint, again on mediums. This time he is pushing the limits, sometimes exceeding them, with little trips across the kerbs and grass in an effort to improve his lap times.

In closing stages, Max bolts on a the soft Pirellis. He is able to lap a second faster bumping him up to P5. In the end, he has to settle for tenth, a second and a half behind fastest man Hamilton. The world champion had an eventful session with a spin and gearbox issues but still managed to top the boards.

Autódromo José Carlos Pace - Brazilian Grand Prix - Saturday 15 November 2015

 P   No Driver             Team          Time       Gap      Laps
 1   44 Lewis Hamilton     Mercedes      1:12.070              16
 2    6 Nico Rosberg       Mercedes      1:12.193   +0.123s    19
 3    5 Sebastian Vettel   Ferrari       1:12.760   +0.690s    19
 4    7 Kimi Räikkönen     Ferrari       1:13.096   +1.026s    20
 5   77 Valtteri Bottas    Williams      1:13.335   +1.265s    25
 6   27 Nico Hulkenberg    Force India   1:13.345   +1.275s    19
 7    8 Romain Grosjean    Lotus         1:13.437   +1.367s    19
 8   11 Sergio Perez       Force India   1:13.506   +1.436s    18
 9   13 Pastor Maldonado   Lotus         1:13.534   +1.464s    20
10   33 Max Verstappen     Toro Rosso    1:13.548   +1.478s    21
11    3 Daniel Ricciardo   Red Bull      1:13.572   +1.502s    23
12   19 Felipe Massa       Williams      1:13.742   +1.672s    24
13   26 Daniil Kvyat       Red Bull      1:13.829   +1.759s    17
14   14 Fernando Alonso    McLaren       1:13.850   +1.780s    19
15   55 Carlos Sainz       Toro Rosso    1:13.959   +1.889s    23
16    9 Marcus Ericsson    Sauber        1:14.185   +2.115s    23
17   12 Felipe Nasr        Sauber        1:14.288   +2.218s    22
18   22 Jenson Button      McLaren       1:14.445   +2.375s    17
19   28 Will Stevens       Marussia      1:16.671   +4.601s    15
20   53 Alexander Rossi    Marussia      1:17.059   +4.989s    15 

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