Verstappen starts from fifth in first race 2016: "Very happy"
Published on 19 March 2016 by Mike Motilall
Max Verstappen finished in fifth during qualifying in the Australian GP, his best position in his still budding Formula 1-carreer. The Scuderia Toro Rosso-driver starts in Melbourne behind the Mercedes and Ferrari’s, no small feat. Lewis Hamilton snatched pole in the season’s openings race, ahead of his team mate Nico Rosberg.
“It went well. After the last free practice, during which the car’s balance wasn’t optimal, we changed the setup. We made the right choices and I am very happy with a fifth starting position", Max tells Verstappen.nl. “In this new qualifying setup, you only have one chance to do a good lap. There is immediately a lot of pressure on you, which makes it harder for everyone. Our strategy worked out well.”
Max puts the expectations for the race somewhat in perspective: “Normally speaking, with this engine, we are a bit stronger in the race than in qualifying, but I don’t think we are able to progress much further than this. Realistically, Ferrari and Mercedes are way too strong. Our focus will be to maintain the fifth position”, Max concludes with a huge smile.
When the lights turn green, for the first qualifying in the 2016-campaign, there is nowhere to run anymore. Every driver takes to the track, Max also. He clocks in his first and only flying lap a 1:26.934, good for third at that moment.
As the teams fight the clock, they struggle to get a grip on the new qualifying format, which produces a dropout every ninety seconds. The lesser teams, make unnecessary mistakes by sending their drivers too late out on track. Max makes it through to Q1 effortlessly with his eighth spot.
In Q2, the Dutchman does a 1:25.829 (P5) on a new set of the super softs, with still five minutes remaining, he improves that to a 1:25.615, putting him in sixth. As the minutes keep ticking away, it appears that Verstappen has been fast enough. Being seventh, he makes it through to Q3 and is assured of a top eight starting position.
In that final part of qualifying, Max has to face the likes of Mercedes, Ferrari, Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull), Felipe Massa (Williams) and his team mate Carlos Sainz.
Max’ flying lap is done in a 1:25.434, once again a bit faster and quick enough to be ahead of Ricciardo, Sainz and Massa. Those gents dropout in that same order as well. Just like his peers, Verstappen has had enough, leaving him starting from fifth.
In the dying minutes of qualifying, only Rosberg and Hamilton venture out once more. Ferrari settles for the second grid row with Kimi Raikkonen in P4 and Sebastian Vettel in third, behind of Mercedes. They seem to continue on in 2016 where they left off last year.
Albert Park – Australian Grand Prix – Saturday 19 March 2016:
P No Driver Team Time Laps 1 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:23.837 14 2 6 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:24.197 13 3 5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:24.675 14 4 7 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:25.033 13 5 33 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso 1:25.434 12 6 19 Felipe Massa Williams 1:25.458 12 7 55 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:25.582 14 8 3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:25.589 15 9 11 Sergio Perez Force India 1:25.753 12 10 27 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:25.865 14 11 77 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:25.961 9 12 14 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:26.125 9 13 22 Jenson Button McLaren 1:26.304 9 14 30 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1:27.601 12 15 20 Kevin Magnussen Renault 1:27.742 11 16 9 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:27.435 9 17 12 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:27.958 7 18 26 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull 1:28.006 5 19 8 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:28.322 6 20 21 Esteban Gutierrez Haas 1:29.606 6 21 88 Rio Haryanto Manor 1:29.627 3 22 94 Pascal Wehrlein Manor 1:29.642 3
