Max P9 in China: “Curious about the qualifying”

Published on 16 April 2016 by Mike Motilall

During a wet third free practice, in the run up to the Chinese Grand Prix, Max Verstappen noted the ninth fastest time. On the 5,451 meters long Shanghai International Circuit, it was Sebastian Vettel in his Ferrari who was the fastest in front of Valtteri Bottas. Sergio Perez claimed the third spot in his Force India.

“It is a pity that we were not able to do that many laps because of the rain”, Max informed Verstappen.nl. “As oppose to many others, I drove with a race set up. It’s in the qualifying that it it will matter, shortly. I am curious.”

At the start it’s raining cats and dogs and the track is soaking wet. The drivers, heading out after about fifteen minutes in the session, are forced to do this on the full wets. It is eventually Valtteri Bottas in the Williams who gets things going, shortly followed by his team mate Felipe Massa.

The conditions are tricky. Left and right we see drivers leave the track and Roman Grosjean spins in his Haas. He is able to continue on without any damages. Kimi Raikkonen is the first to note a time, well over half an hour in the session. Before that, none of the Scuderia Toro Rosso had ventured out on the asphalt.

Both Red Bull drivers are the first to try out the intermediates. At the same moment, both Toro Rosso youngsters also head out on track. They have the full wets strapped on to their STR11. Carlos Sainz manages to run quite easily at the front of the field as Max is in P4 after his first timed lap. Sebastian Vettel is, moments later, two and a half seconds faster than Sainz, proving that it has become too dry for the full wet tyres.

Max does a relatively long run on the full wets and manages to claim the highest top speed at the end of the long straight. With still more than ten minutes remaining on the clock and in P4, he pits without coming back out again. His team mate, Sainz, does head back out again for a second run, and again on the full wets. The Spaniard improves on his time and finishes the session in P4. Max drops back to ultimately P9.

A great many drivers test the waters, but nevertheless decide not to put a time on the clock by aborting their laps prematurely. Among them are both the Mercedes and Red Bull drivers.

Chinese Grand Prix - Shanghai International Circuit - Saturday 16 April:

 RESULTS FREE PRACTICE THREE
 P No Driver             Team          Time     Gap   Laps
 1  5 Sebastian Vettel   Ferrari       1:57.351          3
 2 77 Valtteri Bottas    Williams      1:58.061 +0.710s  7
 3 11 Sergio Perez       Force India   1:58.689 +1.338s  4
 4 55 Carlos Sainz       Toro Rosso    1:58.800 +1.449s  9
 5 21 Esteban Gutierrez  Haas          1:59.526 +2.175s  7
 6 30 Jolyon Palmer      Renault       1:59.677 +2.326s  7
 7 20 Kevin Magnussen    Renault       1:59.761 +2.410s  9
 8 94 Pascal Wehrlein    Manor         1:59.964 +2.613s  8
 9 33 Max Verstappen     Toro Rosso    2:00.150 +2.799s  6
10 27 Nico Hulkenberg    Force India   2:00.158 +2.807s  4
11 12 Felipe Nasr        Sauber        2:00.197 +2.846s  8
12  7 Kimi Räikkönen     Ferrari       2:00.812 +3.461s  5
13 19 Felipe Massa       Williams      2:02.438 +5.087s  4
14 88 Rio Haryanto       Manor         2:02.732 +5.381s  5
15 22 Jenson Button      McLaren                         3
16 14 Fernando Alonso    McLaren                         3
17  8 Romain Grosjean    Haas                            4
18 26 Daniil Kvyat       Red Bull                        4
19  6 Nico Rosberg       Mercedes                        2
20  3 Daniel Ricciardo   Red Bull                        3
21 44 Lewis Hamilton     Mercedes                        2
22  9 Marcus Ericsson    Sauber                          1 

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