Max happy with morning running despite bad luck
Published on 23 February 2016 by Stefan Meens
Sebastian Vettel topped the time tables during the morning session of day two of the first pre-season test in Barcelona. The German outpaced Daniel Ricciardo’s Red Bull by seven tenths. Max Verstappen made his long awaited STR11 debut with the Dutchman lapping the Circuit de Catalunya 59 times despite a small technical hiccup.
“I’m happy with this morning, as we were able to drive a lot laps”, explains Max to Verstappen.nl. “We’re not really looking at car set-up or fast lap times. At the moment it’s all about gathering data by getting in lots of laps, which will be our plan for the rest of the day.”
When the green light comes on and the pit lane opens, it is once again Mercedes that are the first team on track, today with Nico Rosberg. Fifteen minutes later, Max heads out for the first time in his new Scuderia Toro Rosso, the youngster sporting a new helmet design for the 2016 season.
After two installation laps, the Dutchman sets about his first stint consisting of eleven laps on the medium compound Pirelli. After half an hour, and several pit stop simulations, Max heads out for another stint, once again on a set of mediums. The 18-year-old improves his lap time and sets his quickest lap of the morning session, a 1:27.346.
Max is unable to finish his third stint; several laps in, the STR11 grinds to a halt just before turn 13, resulting in the session being temporarily red flagged.
Despite the cause of the sudden stop of his Toro Rosso remaining unclear, Max is able to resume his morning running after the car is returned to the team’s pits. The youngster is able to put in another 23 laps before lunch, gathering valuable data for the engineers.
At the front, Mercedes continues to impress with Nico Rosberg clocking 81 laps and finishing the morning in third behind Sebastian Vettel. The German sets a blistering time (1:22.810) on the brand new ultra-soft tyre, followed by Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo, who also set his fastest lap on the fastest Pirelli compound.
Pre-season test 1, day 2 - Circuit de Catalunya - Tuesday 23 February 2016
MORNING SESSION Driver Team Car Time Laps 1. Vettel Ferrari SF16-H 1:22.810 46 2. Ricciardo Red Bull Racing RB12 1:23.525 +0.715 58 3. Rosberg Mercedes W07 1:24.867 +2.057 81 4. Perez Force India VJM09 1:25.692 +2.882 48 5. Ericsson Sauber C34 1:25.734 +2.924 49 6. Bottas Willliams FW38 1:25.872 +3.062 56 7. Wehrlein Manor F1 MRT05 1:25.925 +3.115 36 8. Palmer Renault RS16 1:26.189 +3.379 41 9. Gutierrez Haas F1 VF-16 1:26.931 +4.121 32 10. Alonso McLaren MP4-31 1:27.198 +4.388 71 11. Verstappen Toro Rosso STR11 1:27.346 +4.536 59
