Max starting from third row in Spain: “It was sweet”

Published on 13 May 2017 by Mike Motilall

Max Verstappen will start the Spanish Grand Prix from the third row. On the 4,655 meter Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, where he took his first Formula-1 win, the youngster finished in fifth in his Red Bull. Lewis Hamilton topped the leaderboard and took pole in his Mercedes, ahead of Ferrari-driving Sebastian Vettel. Valtteri Bottas came in third with the second Mercedes.

“This was very sweet”, says a cheerful Max immediately after qualifying. “The car felt good at last, for once nothing came off and nobody got in front of me, so I was able to do my own thing and that worked out fine. We are off the pole by five-and-half-tenths, which is much better than a second and a half. If you look at it realistically, fifth is the best we can achieve tomorrow. In the race we are normally better than we are during qualifying. We’ll see, we were good on our tyres yesterday and then six tenths doesn’t mean that much.”

“We were fighting the whole weekend with the balance but we made the right changes for qualifying. Also a big congratulation to the team for all the work they put in. The car now has the best balance I’ve had so far all season.

Before the start of qualifying, Ferrari changed Sebastian Vettel’s car engine after he halted in the pit lane during the third free practice. It remained to be seen if the German could make it to qualifying. Also, the FIA announced that for the Spanish Grand Prix, the DRS-zone on the straight will be extended by 100 meters. This has been done to enable more overtaking.

When the lights turn green, it is Stoffel Vandoorne who gets out on track first with Vettel on his heels. The Ferrari appears to be ready for it. In the meanwhile, he thanks his engineers for the hard work they put in. He also immediately goes for a flying lap on the soft compound tyres. But the Ferrari-driver is immediately asked to turn off his car. Driving slowly, he is instructed on how to reset everything. He doesn’t go back to the pits and moments later clocks a timed lap.

Later on, we see Max appear out on track after Romain Grosjean spins in his Haas. “That’s fine for us, you can push”, is what Vettel is told on the radio. Max puts his RB13 in fourth after his first run. He drops his team mate Daniel to P5. Both Red Bulls only do one run and are both behind both Mercedes and Ferrari’s.

After the first run, Grosjean, Lance Stroll, Jolyon Palmer, Kevin Magnussen and Daniil Kvyat are in the knock out zone. The dropouts in Q2 are Marcus Ericsson, Palmer, Stroll, Vandoorne and Kvyat. All have to go after their second run.

Valtteri Bottas gets things going at the start of Q2. He outbrakes himself at turn one and wastes his first flying lap. Hamilton, in the meantime, takes the pole while Raikkonen follows him. Both Red Bulls are still inside at that moment.

When Max and Ricciardo venture out, Ricciardo clocks the fourth fastest time and sees Max betters that moments later by well over a tenth. P4 for Max, who in turn is dropped after Vettel takes P2. Again, both Red Bulls only do one run. It’s curtain time in Q2 for Magnussen, Carlos Sainz, Pascal Wehrlein, Nico Hülkenberg and Grosjean. Fernando Alonso quite brilliantly manages to make it through to Q3.

Both Mercedes head out on track in Q3 as the first, followed by both Ferrari’s. Even the Red Bulls are out on track early. Bottas is the first to get a time on the clocks, a 1:19.390. Moments later, Hamilton betters that by a few tenths and demotes the Fin to P2. Both Ferrari’s follow in P3 and P4. Max is fifth in his RB13, trailing the leaders by six tenths. Ricciardo follows in sixth.

In the closing stages of qualifying, it gets busy on track. When the flag drops, it is Bottas who has to acknowledge Hamilton’s superiority as he hasn’t bettered his time. Max is a bit faster and keeps Ricciardo behind of him. The youngster is in fifth. Vettel snatches second from Bottas while Alonso quite brilliantly finishes in seventh.

Spanish Grand Prix - Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya - Saturday 13 May

RESULTS QUALIFYING

01 44 Lewis Hamilton      Mercedes                    1:20.511 1:20.210 1:19.149 12
02  5 Sebastian Vettel    Ferrari                     1:20.939 1:20.295 1:19.200 16
03 77 Valtteri Bottas     Mercedes                    1:20.991 1:20.300 1:19.373 15
04  7 Kimi Räikkönen      Ferrari                     1:20.742 1:20.621 1:19.439 14
05 33 Max Verstappen      Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer   1:21.430 1:20.722 1:19.706 12
06  3 Daniel Ricciardo    Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer   1:21.704 1:20.855 1:20.175 12
07 14 Fernando Alonso     McLaren Honda               1:22.015 1:21.251 1:21.048 15
08 11 Sergio Perez        Force India Mercedes        1:21.998 1:21.239 1:21.070 14
09 19 Felipe Massa        Williams Mercedes           1:22.138 1:21.222 1:21.232 15
10 31 Esteban Ocon        Force India Mercedes        1:21.901 1:21.148 1:21.272 17
11 20 Kevin Magnussen     Haas Ferrari                1:21.945 1:21.329          13
12 55 Carlos Sainz        Toro Rosso                  1:21.941 1:21.371          12
13 27 Nico Hulkenberg     Renault                     1:22.091 1:21.397          12
14  8 Romain Grosjean     Haas Ferrari                1:21.822 1:21.517          13
15 94 Pascal Wehrlein     Sauber Ferrari              1:22.327 1:21.803          15
16  9 Marcus Ericsson     Sauber Ferrari              1:22.332                    9
17 30 Jolyon Palmer       Renault                     1:22.401                    6
18 18 Lance Stroll        Williams Mercedes           1:22.411                    7
19  2 Stoffel Vandoorne   McLaren Honda               1:22.532                    9
20 26 Daniil Kvyat        Toro Rosso                  1:22.746                    6 

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