Max starts Baku Grand Prix from P9: "Disappointing quali"
Published on 18 June 2016 by Stefan Meens
Max Verstappen will start the first European Grand Prix held in the streets of Baku from ninth place. Nico Rosberg claimed pole position after Lewis Hamilton parked his Mercedes in the wall. Sergio Perez qualified in second followed by Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo.
“Until the red flag (Hamilton's crash) came out, I was on my way to third”, explains a disappointed Max after quali. “After the red flag it went wrong again because Bottas, like he did in Q2, tried to overtake me into the first corner. It's just so dumb. We both lose our laps, and it happened twice. We should have been close to Ricciardo so I'm really disappointed to start from ninth. But luckily there's plenty of opportunity to overtake here so full throttle ahead!”
Apart from Jenson Button not making the cut, Q1 does not throw many surprises with both Renaults, Manors and Marcus Ericsson not going to Q2.
The second part of qualifying sees everyone, like the first session, go out on the super-soft Pirellis. Nico Hulkenberg spins in the last sector but is able to keep his Force India out of the wall. The German continues to hunt for a place in the final part of qualifying but surprisingly misses out, despite the Force Indias showing good pace throughout the weekend.
Other drivers that do not progress are Fernando Alonso, Felipe Nasr, Carlos Sainz and both Haas.
During Max's first flying lap in Q3, Hamilton hits the wall and causes a red flag. Hence, Max has to abort his lap and returns to pits as the only driver without a time on the board. Rosberg, meanwhile, sits in P1, followed by Sergio Perez in the Force India.
At the end of the pit lane, the drivers then line up to get a final timed lap in with just over two minutes on the clock. When the green flag is waved and the circuit is cleared, Daniel Ricciardo is the first out on the circuit. The Australian makes the most of the clear track and qualifies in third behind Rosberg and Perez.
Max is only able to mange P9, after being slowed down by Bottas in the first sector. The Finn tries to overtake the Dutchman into the first corner, thus compromising both drivers' flying lap. A disappointing end to qualifying for the 18-year-old, who is hoping to make up ground in the race.
Daniel Ricciardo will start the race from P2 after Sergio Perez, who qualified in second, serves a five-place grid penalty due to a gearbox change.
European Grand Prix - Baku City Circuit - Saturday 18 June
01 6 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:43.685 1:42.520 1:42.758 16 02 11 Sergio Perez Force India Mercedes 1:44.462 1:43.939 1:43.515 20 03 3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer 1:44.570 1:44.141 1:43.966 20 04 5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:45.062 1:44.461 1:43.966 19 05 7 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:44.936 1:44.533 1:44.269 19 06 19 Felipe Massa Williams Mercedes 1:45.494 1:44.696 1:44.483 15 07 26 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso Ferrari 1:44.694 1:44.687 1:44.717 25 08 77 Valtteri Bottas Williams Mercedes 1:44.706 1:44.477 1:45.246 18 09 33 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer 1:44.939 1:44.387 1:45.570 20 10 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:44.259 1:43.526 2:01.954 17 11 8 Romain Grosjean Haas Ferrari 1:45.507 1:44.755 15 12 27 Nico Hulkenberg Force India Mercedes 1:44.860 1:44.824 14 13 55 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso Ferrari 1:44.827 1:45.000 17 14 14 Fernando Alonso McLaren Honda 1:45.525 1:45.270 15 15 21 Esteban Gutierrez Haas Ferrari 1:45.300 1:45.349 16 16 12 Felipe Nasr Sauber Ferrari 1:45.549 1:46.048 13 17 88 Rio Haryanto MRT Mercedes 1:45.665 8 18 94 Pascal Wehrlein MRT Mercedes 1:45.750 9 19 22 Jenson Button McLaren Honda 1:45.804 7 20 9 Marcus Ericsson Sauber Ferrari 1:46.231 10 21 20 Kevin Magnussen Renault 1:46.348 9 22 30 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1:46.394 9
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