Verstappen DNF’s in Bahrain GP: “Left rear brake overheated”
Published on 16 April 2017 by Mike Motilall
Max Verstappen was not able to give his excellent start of the Bahrain Grand Prix a good follow up. The Dutchman dropped out on the 13th lap, after the brakes of his RB13 failed. Sebastian Vettel took the victory home in his Ferrari, followed by Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas for Mercedes. Kimi Raikkonen and Daniel Ricciardo round up the top five.
Max sheds some light on why he dropped out: “My left rear brake overheated. I braked and then lost brake pressure. Then you lose your rear brakes, putting all the stress on the front. Your then lock your wheels up and are unable to stop. That was of course very disappointing. Even more so when you are running in a very good position and was also able to get on the podium.”
At the start of the race everything was looking promising: “At the start, I had a bit too much wheel spin, but afterwards I stayed as long as possible in the slipstream and chose the right line in turn one, giving me a good exit for the next corner.” This meant he could keep his team mate Daniel Ricciardo at bay and after the first lap he went from P6 to P4: “At a certain point you are on the inside for the next corner and then it’s fine.”
The chosen strategy was also looking very promising according to Verstappen: “I think it was good what we did. If we hadn’t have a brake issue, we would have finished in second and could have nailed both Mercedes. That would have been very good.” About his chances for the next race in Sochi Max says: “I don’t know, that’s hard to say. I think that this circuit in Bahrain was best suited for us. In the race, we were doing reasonably well on our tyres. That’s not the case in Sochi, seeing that you’re able to give your tyres a pounding there. We need to wait and see.”
After sunset, the lights come on in Bahrain at 18.00 hours. Max Verstappen has a rocket start and is in fourth after two corners. His team mate, Daniel Ricciardo, is at that moment behind of Verstappen and is trying to get the better of him. To no avail, as Max is able to position his car very well and is also focusing on Lewis Hamilton in his Mercedes ahead of him.
Stoffel Vandoorne fails to get out on track. The Belgian suffers from issues to the Honda power unit in his McLaren. These had been noticed while heading out to the grid. Vandoorne is forced to watch the race from the pitbox and will get back in action at the Grand Prix in Sochi.
After six laps, the top three, consisting of Bottas, Vettel and Hamilton, are all within one second of each other. Verstappen and his team mate Ricciardo are also able to keep up with them. For a while the entire top five is captured in one camera shot. Lance Stroll is the first driver to come in for his pit stop. Shortly after, Kevin Magnussen parks his Haas alongside the track with technical issues, triggering the first yellow flag situation.
Sebastian Vettel pits on lap eleven and straps on a new set of the super softs. Verstappen is stuck behind of Hamilton and asks his team on the radio for a similar strategy. His team complies with his request and Max changes, like Vettel, to a new set of the super soft tyres.
On lap thirteen, just after exiting the pits, it all goes horribly wrong for the Dutchman. Braking for turn four, the brakes on his RB13 fail and Verstappen heads right into the tyre wall. This means the end to what could have perhaps been a very strong race.
After this, things become very hectic on the Bahrain circuit. Stroll comes to a stop after a crash with Carlos Sainz, just before turn two. Both drivers suffer major damage to their cars and are forced to prematurely end their race. This brings out the safety car on track causing many to head to the pits. Mercedes double stacks Hamilton and Bottas. Seeing Bottas pits first, Hamilton is forced to slow down his pace entering the pit lane. While doing this, he holds up Ricciardo tremendously, resulting in the Brit eventually getting slapped with a five-seconds time penalty.
On lap sixteen, it’s all clear on track and the safety car heads back in. Ricciardo is by now running on the softer compound tyres and drops all the way back to the sixth spot.
The remainder of the race proves to be a strategic game. Hamilton is on a different strategy, enabling him to go on longer than Vettel and Bottas who are both ahead of him. After taking his penalty at his pit stop, the Brit is closing in on Bottas lap after lap. With less than ten laps to go, he overtakes his team mate. Hamilton manages to even get close to Vettel, but fails to become a serious threat. With this the Ferrari-driver wins his second race of this season.
Ricciardo, finishing in fifth, still gives Red Bull Racing ten points crossing the finish line.
Bahrain Grand Prix - Bahrain International Circuit - Sunday 16 April
RACE RESULTS 01 5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 57 1:33:53.374 25 02 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 57 +6.660s 18 03 77 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 57 +20.397s 15 04 7 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 57 +22.475s 12 05 3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer 57 +39.346s 10 06 19 Felipe Massa Williams Mercedes 57 +54.326s 8 07 11 Sergio Perez Force India Mercedes 57 +62.606s 6 08 8 Romain Grosjean Haas Ferrari 57 +74.865s 4 09 27 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 57 +80.188s 2 10 31 Esteban Ocon Force India Mercedes 57 +95.711s 1 11 94 Pascal Wehrlein Sauber Ferrari 56 +1 lap 0 12 26 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 56 +1 lap 0 13 30 Jolyon Palmer Renault 56 +1 lap 0 14 14 Fernando Alonso McLaren Honda 54 DNF 0 NC 9 Marcus Ericsson Sauber Ferrari 50 DNF 0 NC 55 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 12 DNF 0 NC 18 Lance Stroll Williams Mercedes 12 DNF 0 NC 33 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer 11 DNF 0 NC 20 Kevin Magnussen Haas Ferrari 8 DNF 0 NC 2 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren Honda 0 DNS 0
