P12 for Max in Sochi FP2: "A tough day"
Published on 29 April 2016 by Stefan Meens
Max Verstappen continued his Russian GP weekend with a twelfth place in free practice two. The Dutchman lapped the Sochi Autodrome in a 1:39.501. After Nico Rosberg topped the timing tables after FP1, Lewis Hamilton continued the Mercedes supremacy by setting the quickest time of the session, followed by Sebastian Vettel, Rosberg and Kimi Raikkonen.
"It was a tough day with a lot of oversteer", said Max to Verstappen.nl. "We haven't found a solution yet. It's tricky because I don't know how fast I can go into corners and if you try to go faster you easily end up off track. There's still a lot of work to do so it's going to be a long night."
The weather conditions are optimal as the drivers prepare for FP2. Max straightaway heads out on the soft Pirellis. He ventures out for a five lap run, resulting in a 1:41.2.
With an hour to go, Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari comes to a standstill on the start/finish straight. The virtual safety car is put in to action to remove the stricken car .Once the track is cleared, Max heads out on a set of super-softs to set a 1:39.501, his quickest lap of the session.
Customary for the final part of FP2 is long run testing. Max heads out for an 18-lap stint on a set of used soft tyres. Right before the end of the session, the youngster adds another two laps on used super-softs to his total tally of 30 laps. By this point in time to focus for most teams has drifted from setting a competitive time, meaning Max stays in twelfth.
Russian GP - Sochi Autodrom - Friday 29 April
RESULTS FREE PRACTICE 2 P No Driver Team Time Gap Laps 1 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:37.583 30 2 5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:38.235 +0.652s 10 3 6 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:38.450 +0.867s 37 4 7 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:38.793 +1.210s 35 5 3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:39.084 +1.501s 34 6 77 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:39.185 +1.602s 42 7 26 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull 1:39.193 +1.610s 32 8 22 Jenson Button McLaren 1:39.196 +1.613s 31 9 19 Felipe Massa Williams 1:39.289 +1.706s 38 10 14 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:39.400 +1.817s 30 11 55 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:39.465 +1.882s 37 12 33 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso 1:39.501 +1.918s 30 13 27 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:39.795 +2.212s 31 14 11 Sergio Perez Force India 1:39.867 +2.284s 38 15 20 Kevin Magnussen Renault 1:40.193 +2.610s 41 16 8 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:40.260 +2.677s 24 17 21 Esteban Gutierrez Haas 1:40.508 +2.925s 26 18 30 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1:40.688 +3.105s 37 19 12 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:40.740 +3.157s 31 20 88 Rio Haryanto Manor 1:41.080 +3.497s 38 21 94 Pascal Wehrlein Manor 1:41.148 +3.565s 23 22 9 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:41.652 +4.069s 29
