Max on his last starts: “Three different situations”

Published on 29 September 2016 by Mike Motilall

During the last three races, Max Verstappen had some poor starts, resulting in him losing valuable positions. The cause of his troubled starts were different on every occasion, says Max on Thursday, prior to the Malaysian Grand Prix: “They were three different situations. In Belgium I had a lot of wheel spin, in Monza I was too low with my revs and in Singapore I had an issue with the clutch.”

Max explains himself: “Monza had less to do with the clutch than Singapore. During a start you avoid getting high in the revs, to avoid causing wheel spin. But with not enough revs, the anti-stall kicks in, and that’s what happened in Monza. It had a somewhat too aggressive setup and I was just some fifty revs too low.”

In Singapore, Red Bull Racing had already deduced that there was an issue with the clutch even before the race. The team requested the FIA to allow them to change it but their request was denied. This resulted in a crash at the start between Nico Hulkenberg, and Carlos Sainz, who even tried to swing around Max. “I think that the next time they will be more willing to listen. It is not an ideal situation for others when they know in advance that one of them will not be getting off the line as he normally should.”

The issues with the clutch that the team faced in Singapore, have been resolved. “Everything has been checked and I think we found the answer. The necessary modifications have been made. We are going to test that in the free practices to see what works best. In any case, I have some new parts for the clutch. The team also suffered from those poor starts. Valuable points have been wasted, three times in a row. So the team took to solving this problem with full force.”

There is no doubt to be seen on Max. “On Sunday I am doing in Malaysia again what I need to do during a start. And if it appears to be working out well in the free practices, there is no reason for me to worry.”

The Malaysian monsoon is a force to be reckoned with. Can that help to launch an attack towards Mercedes? Max: “That will be difficult, but we do hope for some rain. The most important thing is to be ahead of Ferrari, so hopefully we can manage to pull that off again, although they won here last year. There are of course many straights, and that is not to our advantage, but with the right balance in the corners we have a good shot.”

The Dutchman is working on that together with his Ossie team mate. Max can get along perfectly with Daniel Ricciardo. “Most definitely. Because of him, I was forced to up my game as well. From the start we had a good click between the two of us. It is nice to work with Daniel. He is an open and relaxed fellow. We share everything and that helps us to perform better.”

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