Max qualifies fourth: "Not what we wanted"

Published on 17 September 2016 by Stefan Meens

Max Verstappen qualified in fourth for the 2016 Singapore Grand Prix. Pole position went to Nico Rosberg, who lapped the Marina Bay Street circuit seven tenths faster than the Dutchman. Red Bull Racing's Daniel Ricciardo claimed the second spot on the front row, with Lewis Hamilton managing third. The world champion will line up next to Max on Sunday's grid.

After qualifying, Max told Verstappen.nl: “So far the weekend went well, but in qualifying I wasn't happy with the balance. I struggled to get my tyres up to temperature and I often locked up the front. It just didn't feel right. So fourth is not what we wanted, but we'll see how it goes.”

The biggest surprise of qualifying occurred in Q1. Sebastian Vettel's Ferrari suffered roll bar issues, preventing the German from setting a competitive time. His 1:49.1 was the slowest time set, meaning the four time champ will have to start from the back of the grid. The other Q1 casualties included Felipe Nasr and both Renaults and Manors.

Q2 saw the Mercedes once again surface as the favourites for pole position. Nico Rosberg set the benchmark with a 1:43.0. The Red Bulls were still among the front runners - in second and fourth place - despite setting their quickest time on the super-soft Pirellis and not the ultra-soft compound. It means that both the Austrian outfit's carswill start the race on a different tyre compared to the Mercedes of Rosberg and Hamilton.

Jenson Button, Marcus Ericsson, Esteban Gutierrez, Felipe Massa, Valtteri Bottas and Romain Grosjean were the drivers that did not make the cut to progress the Q3. The latter also caused a delay of the final part of qualifying. After crashing his Haas F1 in the final minutes of Q2, the track side marshals had to fix the barrier.

After a ten minute delay, the final shoot-out got under way with the Mercedes dominant after the first flying laps. Max was not happy with his first lap, complaining he wanted a clear track. In his final traffic free run, the youngster improves his lap time but has settle for fourth, whilst Rosberg took a dominant pole position. Daniel Ricciardo set the second quickest lap with Lewis Hamilton somewhat disappointing in third.

Singapore Grand Prix - Marina Bay Street Circuit - Saturday 17 September

01 Nico Rosberg        Mercedes                    1:45.316 1:43.020 1:42.584 
02 Daniel Ricciardo    Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer   1:44.255 1:43.933 1:43.115 
03 Lewis Hamilton      Mercedes                    1:45.167 1:43.471 1:43.288 
04 Max Verstappen      Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer   1:45.036 1:44.112 1:43.328 
05 Kimi Räikkönen      Ferrari                     1:44.964 1:44.159 1:43.540 
06 Carlos Sainz        Toro Rosso Ferrari          1:45.499 1:44.493 1:44.197 
07 Daniil Kvyat        Toro Rosso Ferrari          1:45.291 1:44.475 1:44.469 
08 Nico Hulkenberg     Force India Mercedes        1:46.081 1:44.737 1:44.479 
09 Fernando Alonso     McLaren Honda               1:45.373 1:44.653 1:44.553 
10 Sergio Perez        Force India Mercedes        1:45.204 1:44.703 1:44.582 
11 Valtteri Bottas     Williams Mercedes           1:46.086 1:44.740 
12 Felipe Massa        Williams Mercedes           1:46.056 1:44.991 
13 Jenson Button       McLaren Honda               1:45.262 1:45.144 
14 Esteban Gutierrez   Haas Ferrari                1:45.465 1:45.593 
15 Romain Grosjean     Haas Ferrari                1:45.609 1:45.723 
16 Marcus Ericsson     Sauber Ferrari              1:46.427 1:47.827 
17 Kevin Magnussen     Renault                     1:46.825 
18 Felipe Nasr         Sauber Ferrari              1:46.860 
19 Jolyon Palmer       Renault                     1:46.960 
20 Pascal Wehrlein     MRT Mercedes                1:47.667 
21 Esteban Ocon        MRT Mercedes                1:48.296 
22 Sebastian Vettel    Ferrari                     1:49.116  

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