Max very positive after 102 laps: “Learned and acquired a lot”

Published on 08 March 2017 by Mike Motilall

Max Verstappen has had once again a very productive day during the second pre-season test. Despite an engine change, which took a lot of time, the Dutchman drove an astonishing 102 laps and finished eventually in fourth on the leaderboard. The fastest driver was Valtteri Bottas, on the super-softs the Mercedes-driver clocked a 1:19.310. The fastest time set so far during this pre-season winter test. Felipe Massa followed on the ultra-soft tyre with a little over a tenth.

Just before the end of the session, Max had to park his RB13 alongside the track. Afterwards he explains to Verstappen.nl: “We still need to figure out what caused it, but it looks like the same problem we had this morning. This is not ideal, but it’s all part of it. I am confident that it will be solved very quickly. Renault has a solution for Melbourne, so it should be alright.”

“After today, I have a very positive feeling about the car. Everything felt right and was ok. In the afternoon, I was able to cover almost an entire race distance. So we learned a lot and gathered a lot of data as well, that is always important. Of course we still have some work to do, like trying out some options regarding the set-up, but so far the car has been working fine.”

Max is not one for making predictions: “It is too early to say how good we are, we’ll see that in Melbourne. Because the concept of the car is completely new, we are likely to see some modifications by that time, even from us.”

After a busy morning session, the sixth day of pre-season testing, from a total of eight, gets underway at 14:00 hrs in Barcelona. Four teams change drivers after lunch, this means Hamilton, Stroll, Palmer and Ericsson have been scheduled for the afternoon session. Max Verstappen’s Red Bull isn’t seen on track immediately. His fastest time at that moment, a 1:20.432, was done on the soft compound tyre. Due to issues in the morning, the mechanics changed the engine as a precaution. The Dutchman was only able to continue on at 15:45.

Just after Max heads out on track, Kimi Raikkonen triggers a red flag after he gets off-track at turn three. The car is quickly retrieved. The session gets underway again with still some two hours remaining

Max starts off with a race simulation inorder to make up for lost time. He covers in a little over an hour more than forty laps. He doesn’t improve his time but ends the day with some 102 laps to his name. With still fifteen minutes on the clock, the RB13 halts at turn thirteen.

McLaren once again has a more or less uneventful day. Despite having no major issues, the team with the least amount of laps in the morning session, only does 27 laps. After lunch Alonso rakes up no less than 46 laps. The Woking based team has a lot to make up for in the run-up to the season’s opener in Melbourne.

After some strong performance by Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull, Williams appear to have matters sorted. After a flying start with a top-spot finish during the second pre-season test, the team was able to make a lot of tracks again today. Felipe Massa and team mate Lance Stroll lapped the track 122 times together. With Massa in second and Stroll in fifth the team is doing well.

Tomorrow Daniel Ricciardo wil take control of the RB13 again, leaving Max Verstappen to ride the Bull again, for the last time, on Friday. After which the teams will be setting their sights on Australia, where the Formula 1-season will get underway in over two weeks’ time.

Pre-Season Test 2 - Circuit de Barcelona-Cataluyna - Wednesday 8 March 2017

RESULTS DAY 2 – Afternoon

1    V. Bottas	            Mercedes	       1:19.310	     SS         70
2    F. Massa	            Williams	       1:19.420	     US         63
3    K. Räikkönen	    Ferrari	       1:20.406	     S          53
4    M. Verstappen	    Red Bull	       1:20.432	     S	        102
5    L. Stroll	            Williams	       1:20.579      SS		59
6    L. Hamilton	    Mercedes	       1:20.702	     S	        79
7    N. Hülkenberg	    Renault	       1:21.213	     SS	        61
8    S. Pérez	            Force India        1:21.297	     SS	        100
9    C. Sainz	            Toro Rosso         1:21.872      S		92
10   R. Grosjean	    Haas	       1:21.887	     US	        96
11   P. Wehrlein	    Sauber	       1:23.000	     S	        59
12   F. Alonso	            McLaren	       1:23.041	     S	        46
13   M. Ericsson	    Sauber	       1:23.384	     S	        46
14   J. Palmer	            Renault	       1:24.774      S		29