Max P7 in Sochi: “Balance much better”
Published on 30 April 2016 by Mike Motilall
Max Verstappen has managed to finish quite handsomely in P7, after the rather difficult free practices on Friday. During the third, and final free practice, prior to the qualifying for the Russian Grand Prix, he had a 1,7 seconds deficit to the front of the field. On the 5,848 meters long semi-street circuit in Sochi, Lewis Hamilton clocked the fastest time in his Mercedes, followed by his team mate Nico Rosberg, as Sebastian Vettel took third in his Ferrari.
“The balance of the car was much better today. At first it was a bit of getting used to because the car didn’t feel like I am normally used to. We were able to do some fine tuning and eventually do some good times I am happy with. The changes on the car, worked out well”, Max tells Verstappen.nl immediately after the end of the final free practice. “For qualifying, everyone is so close that it will be very important to be able to squeeze out a good lap.”
At the start of the third free practice, the weather is fine in Sochi. Quite early in the session we find Max on the circuit. The young Dutchman is one of the first drivers to get a time on the clock. Max’s aim and that of his team, Scuderia Toro Rosso, as well, will be to try and sort out the mysterious drivability issues they are having since the Chinese qualifying. After his first run, he is in fourth and heads back to the pits.
After fifteen minutes, it is Sergio Perez who triggers a short virtual safety car-period. He misses turn thirteen and halts shortly close to a guard rail. After some marshals gave him a push, he was able to continue on.
Halfway during the session, Max drops back to P10. He is some 2,5 seconds away from Rosberg, who leads the pack in his Mercedes. Many drivers underestimate turn 13, we see most of them lock up their wheels when braking, causing them to miss that corner.
During the final 20 minutes of the last free practice, when teams normally start simulating qualifying runs, Max has dropped back to P15. The team sends him out on a new set of the super soft compound tyres and he improves to P12 and not much later to P8.
At the end of the session, Max is in P10 only to quickly get back to P8. Eventually he snatches P7 in his last series of fast laps. Which puts him in front of his team mate Carlos Sainz for the first time this weekend. Who in turn managed to claim the ninth fastest time.
Russian GP - Sochi Autodrom - Saturday 30 April
RESULTS FREE PRACTICE 3 P No Driver Team Time Gap Laps 1 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:36.403 17 2 6 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:36.471 +0.068s 22 3 5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:37.007 +0.604s 28 4 7 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:37.727 +1.324s 14 5 19 Felipe Massa Williams 1:37.918 +1.515s 16 6 77 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:37.985 +1.582s 16 7 33 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso 1:38.133 +1.730s 22 8 22 Jenson Button McLaren 1:38.260 +1.857s 14 9 55 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:38.465 +2.062s 25 10 11 Sergio Perez Force India 1:38.542 +2.139s 18 11 3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:38.622 +2.219s 23 12 14 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:38.633 +2.230s 12 13 26 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull 1:39.047 +2.644s 15 14 27 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:39.162 +2.759s 16 15 21 Esteban Gutierrez Haas 1:39.230 +2.827s 18 16 20 Kevin Magnussen Renault 1:39.238 +2.835s 16 17 8 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:39.239 +2.836s 15 18 30 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1:39.589 +3.186s 19 19 88 Rio Haryanto Manor 1:39.599 +3.196s 19 20 94 Pascal Wehrlein Manor 1:39.663 +3.260s 18 21 9 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:39.740 +3.337s 23 22 12 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:39.898 +3.495s 19
