Max fifteenth in FP1: "Still work to do"
Published on 29 April 2016 by Stefan Meens
Max Verstappen opened his Russian Grand Prix weekend with P15 in the first free practice session. Nico Rosberg clocked the quickest time on the Sochi track with team mate Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari ace Sebastian Vettel completing the top three.
“There’s still work to do”, says Max to Verstappen.nl. “The car doesn’t have a lot of grip on the slippery and dusty track. The circuit is always ‘green’ during the first session which also affects the grip. We’ll now analyse the data to improve the set-up for the second free practice.”
When the light goes green for the first session of the Russian GP weekend, Max heads out for an installation lap. He is joined by Daniel Ricciardo who’s Red Bull Racing car sported a new canopy design. The screen is supposed to offer the drivers’ heads more protection. It is expected for this feature to become obligatory from 2017 onwards.
After a while in the pit box, Max heads out on the soft tyre. After a nine lap run, the Dutchman sits in P8 (1:41.4). In his final run, a seven lap stint, Max improves his lap time, again on the softs, to a 1:41.134.
Apart from a couple of harmless spins and some minor trips off-track, FP1 went by uneventful. The Russian youngster Sergey Sirotkin claimed P13 in his first outing in the Renault. At the front it was business as usual with the two Mercs leading the way.
Russian GP - Sochi Autodrom - Friday 29 April
RESULTS FREE PRACTICE 1 P No Driver Team Time Gap Laps 1 6 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:38.127 32 2 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:38.849 +0.722s 31 3 5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:39.175 +1.048s 19 4 7 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:39.332 +1.205s 18 5 19 Felipe Massa Williams 1:39.365 +1.238s 14 6 3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:39.650 +1.523s 24 7 77 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:39.802 +1.675s 34 8 26 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull 1:40.218 +2.091s 26 9 11 Sergio Perez Force India 1:40.287 +2.160s 22 10 55 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:40.654 +2.527s 21 11 22 Jenson Button McLaren 1:40.663 +2.536s 19 12 14 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:40.771 +2.644s 18 13 46 Sergey Sirotkin Renault 1:40.898 +2.771s 24 14 12 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:41.085 +2.958s 21 15 33 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso 1:41.134 +3.007s 22 16 21 Esteban Gutierrez Haas 1:41.238 +3.111s 18 17 8 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:41.385 +3.258s 20 18 30 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1:41.671 +3.544s 25 19 9 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:41.962 +3.835s 22 20 94 Pascal Wehrlein Manor 1:42.483 +4.356s 21 21 88 Rio Haryanto Manor 1:42.687 +4.560s 8 22 34 Alfonso Celis Force India 1:43.432 +5.305s 23
