Max eighth in Baku’s first ever GP: “Tricky start, very good end”

Published on 19 June 2016 by Mike Motilall

Max Verstappen finished in eighth during the first ever Grand Prix on Baku’s street circuit. The track, that failed to play in the hands of the Red Bull Racing-car, quite surprisingly had an almost trouble free inaugural race. With a dash at the end, Max was able to finish in P8, putting him right behind of his team mate Ricciardo. In a very dominating manner, Nico Rosberg was able to control the race. Vettel followed from a distance with an impressive Perez on his tail.

“The start of the race was tricky, but the end was very good”, Max informs Verstappen.nl shortly after the race. “On the super softs and softs we had too much degradation, but with the mediums on, it seemed like I was flying. After two laps, I was already feeling that my tyres were going, so I had to pit very early, because I was two or three seconds slower”, the Dutchman relays. “I never expected to finish in P8, so I am very happy with that. At the end, I was also catching my team mate Ricciardo. In the end, you always want to finish higher up, but that wasn’t possible today. To come back eighth, after such a start is a good achievement. We did the best possible job we could today.”

After a somewhat disappointing qualifying, during which he was hampered twice by Bottas, Max is forced to start in ninth on a circuit that clearly favors cars running with a Mercedes power unit.

Despite the tight first corner, every driver is able to get through the first lap unscathed. Max has a clean get away and manages to gain a position. Going on the second lap, the Dutchman sees his chance to make little work of Daniil Kvyat’s Toro Rosso, snatching seventh place from him.

Bottas is quick to be breathing down the rear of Max’ Red Bull. Succumbing to the pressure put on by the Williams-driver, Verstappen goes wide into the first corner on lap five, benefitting both Bottas and Hamilton.

Max is one of the first drivers to pit for a set of soft tyres. The flawless pit stop drops him back to the eighteenth position. When the other drivers start pitting, Max is able to win back a good number of positions. In the meantime, he sees off Ericsson, Palmer and Wehrlein, putting him back in the points.

On lap 21, Max pits for a second time. This time, he continues on with a set of the harder compound tyres and rejoins the field again in P18. The following laps, Max is running in tenth after having been able to make numerous overtake maneuvers stick.

Both Ferrari’s are battling for second place by now. As a result of a five-second time penalty, for crossing the white line at the pit entrance, Raikkonen is told to let the faster Vettel pass. To which he duly complies with.

At Toro Rosso, the race is going from bad to worse. At the start of the race, Kvyat is forced to retire his car due to suspension problems; on lap 33, Sainz faces the same problem and has to park his car along the track.

At the end of the race, Max is clearly and surely gaining on Massa. The latter suffering from tyre degradation. Max gets on his tail on lap 45, puts his Red Bull next to the Williams of the Brazilian and then overtakes him for P9. In the penultimate lap, Max is also able to make little work of Nico Hulkenberg’s Force India. Earning him P8, just behind of team mate Ricciardo.

At the front of the field, Rosberg is able to drive unchallenged to claim his fifth victory of this season. Vettel and the strong performing Perez trail quite considerably. The Mexican, who was able to overtake Raikkonen during the closing stages of the race, scores his second podium finish for the Force India squad in the last three races. Hamilton is heard complaining over the radio to his team about not being able to get his power unit working properly. Due to the communication restrictions, his team is not allowed to help him out. After a considerable amount of radio messages to and fro, Hamilton finally succeeds in getting his car running decently. However, this gets him nowhere as he fails to gain any position and eventually finishes in P5.

European Grand Prix - Baku City Circuit - Saturday 18 June

Pos No Driver              Car                          Laps Time/Retired
01  6  Nico Rosberg        Mercedes                   	51 1:32:52.366
02  5  Sebastian Vettel    Ferrari                    	51 +16.696s
03 11  Sergio Perez        Force India Mercedes       	51 +25.241s
04  7  Kimi Räikkönen      Ferrari                    	51 +33.102s
05 44  Lewis Hamilton      Mercedes                   	51 +56.335s
06 77  Valtteri Bottas     Williams Mercedes          	51 +60.886s
07  3  Daniel Ricciardo    Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer  	51 +69.229s
08 33  Max Verstappen      Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer  	51 +70.696s
09 27  Nico Hulkenberg     Force India Mercedes       	51 +77.708s
10 19  Felipe Massa        Williams Mercedes          	51 +85.375s
11 22  Jenson Button       McLaren Honda              	51 +104.817s
12 12  Felipe Nasr         Sauber Ferrari             	50 +1 lap
13  8  Romain Grosjean     Haas Ferrari               	50 +1 lap
14 20  Kevin Magnussen     Renault                    	50 +1 lap
15 30  Jolyon Palmer       Renault                    	50 +1 lap
16 21  Esteban Gutierrez   Haas Ferrari               	50 +1 lap
17  9  Marcus Ericsson     Sauber Ferrari             	50 +1 lap
18 88  Rio Haryanto        MRT Mercedes               	49 +2 laps
NC 14  Fernando Alonso     McLaren Honda              	42 DNF
NC 94  Pascal Wehrlein     MRT Mercedes               	39 DNF
NC 55  Carlos Sainz        Toro Rosso Ferrari         	31 DNF
NC 26  Daniil Kvyat        Toro Rosso Ferrari         	6  DNF