Max sensationally fourth in first RBR qualifying: “Podium is possible”
Published on 14 May 2016 by Mike Motilall
Just once in history a Dutchman was to be found so far up the grid for a Formula 1 Grand Prix. Jan Lammers was fourth with a ATS during the Grand Prix of America in Long Beach in 1980. Today, Max Verstappen equaled that record by sensationally grabbing fourth during qualifying for his Red Bull Racing team. Both Mercedes are, as expected, on the first row, with Lewis Hamilton on pole and Nico Rosberg in second. But both Red Bull Racing-drivers are ahead of the Ferrari’s.
“The main target was to get a better feeling and to enjoy it every lap, and it worked", Max relays immediately after qualifying with a great sense of understatement. “And with a second starting row I am of course very happy. For sure it will take a few more weekends to get used to the car, but we’ll get there.” What are we to think, if you still need to get used to the car but are already so close to the top? “Well, it helps if you are enjoying it while driving the car.” The race tomorrow, what do you expect? "First I want to try and make a good start and then from there we can keep our position.” Is a podium possible? “In terms of pace, it looks like it, but I don’t want to think about that, I just want to finish the race.” Is it not disappointing to eventually be slower than Ricciardo while you were faster during most part of qualifying? “It was not important to be faster than Daniel. I had thought that the Ferraris’ would have been better, so ending up in front of them feels very good.”
Q1 is opened by Rio Haryanto and Pascal Wehrlein’s Manors. Both are fighting to not being on the last row on the grid. Also the Saubers fail to make it through to the second part of qualifying. Hamilton is the first to have a decent time on the clocks, followed by Rosberg. The latter having the upperhand by 
clocking a 1:23.002, the fastest time of the session. With eight minutes remaining, Max gets his head down for a fast lap. After only two sections on track, he’s a mere 77 thousandth of a second away from Rosberg’s time, but in the last section he loses some time, and with a 1:23.578 he’s third. Kimi Raikkonen is on the Dutchman’s tail, but he cannot keep up with the brand new Red Bull Racing-driver. Sebastian Vettel is also not able to come close to the youngster and is two tenths shy on Ricciardo, leaving a sensation hanging in the air. Felipe Massa is out on track too late for his last flying lap and fails to improve on his time. Together with Jolyon Palmer, they are both dropped in Q1. Verstappen ends this session in third, only half a second away from Rosberg and three tenths shy of Hamilton.
During the second part of qualifying, both Mercedes continue on where they left off. Both Hamilton and Rosberg clock some fast times, but this time Rosberg is six tenths slower than his team mate. Both Force India’s are trailing in three seconds, as Verstappen heads out on track. He clocks a 1:23.178, more than half a second faster than Ricciardo, who had just done his fastest time. This puts the youngster third again. Nico Hülkenberg, Jenson Button, Romain Grosjean, Kevin Magnussen and Esteban Gutierrez are dropped in Q2, also Daniil Kvyat. The Russian, returning back to Scuderia Toro Rosso this weekend, is thirteen fastest. His new team mate, Carlos Sainz, makes it through to Q3 by doing the ninth fastest time. Fernando Alonso also moves on to Q3, by beating Hülkenberg with as much as eleven thousandths.
It is the same in Q3 with the fast Mercedes. Hamilton makes a mistake and is subsequently eight tenths down on Rosberg. Max is fast and benefiting from Hamilton’s mistake, is faster than the Brit in his Mercedes. Just seven tenths sets him apart from the fastest time: 1:23.203. When all the drivers, before the closing of the session, head out on track to try and do a fast lap, Hamilton improves the fastest time to a 1:22.000. Rosberg fails to improve, but that cannot be said for Ricciardo. He outdoes Verstappen by four tenths of a second. Max has by now been dropped as Raikkonen also has driven a better time. But Max regroups himself and does a 1:23.087, awarding him fourth. Giving him a good position to start the race tomorrow.
Spanish Grand Prix - Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya - Saturday 14 May
RESULTS QUALIFYING P No Driver Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Laps 1 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:23.214 1:22.159 1:22.000 13 2 6 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:23.002 1:22.759 1:22.280 12 3 3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:23.749 1:23.585 1:22.680 12 4 33 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:23.578 1:23.178 1:23.087 12 5 7 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:23.796 1:23.504 1:23.113 14 6 5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:24.124 1:23.688 1:23.334 12 7 77 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:24.251 1:24.023 1:23.522 12 8 55 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:24.496 1:24.077 1:23.643 12 9 11 Sergio Perez Force India 1:24.698 1:24.003 1:23.782 16 10 14 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:24.578 1:24.192 1:23.981 12 11 27 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:24.463 1:24.203 13 12 22 Jenson Button McLaren 1:24.583 1:24.348 12 13 26 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:24.696 1:24.445 11 14 8 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:24.716 1:24.480 12 15 20 Kevin Magnussen Renault 1:24.669 1:24.625 12 16 21 Esteban Gutierrez Haas 1:24.406 1:24.778 12 17 30 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1:24.903 6 18 19 Felipe Massa Williams 1:24.941 4 19 9 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:25.202 8 20 12 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:25.579 8 21 94 Pascal Wehrlein Manor 1:25.745 9 22 88 Rio Haryanto Manor 1:25.939 9
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