Max fifth at Interlagos: “No chance on this track“
Published on 12 November 2017 by Mike Motilall
Max Verstappen came in fifth fastest on circuit circuit Autódromo José Carlos Pace at the Brazilian Grand Prix. In São Paulo, the fast Dutchman, who qualified fourth on Saturday, was no match for Ferrari and Mercedes. Ferrari running Sebastian Vettel took the victory home ahead of Valtteri Bottas’ Mercedes and Kimi Raikkonen in the second Ferrari. Daniel Ricciardo finished behind of his team mate Max in sixth.
“The start was bad”, says Max after the race. “I had too much wheel spin, also because I started on the white line and that’s doesn’t help. We didn’t quite get the car as we wanted to on this track. But then again this track doesn’t suit us, so I don’t think we are starting from scratch.” Asked about his late pit stop call, Max replies: “I didn’t want to keep fighting the car, while you just want to bring it home and besides, there was nothing more to win. So I said ‘I want to come in’ which we did. After that I drove the fastest lap time.”
The Dutchman is also not very pleased about the race: “During the entire race, I saw the Ferrari’s and Mercedes, as soon as we got on the straight, just disappear. This was the maximum achievable today, we lost a lot on the straights. This was clear when Lewis passed me. We didn’t have any chance on this track. It is very difficult, but the positive side is that during the first ten, fifteen laps of the stint, we were competitive, but then you ask a lot of the tyres. Especially because the balance was not like in Mexico.”
In two weeks’ time it’s the last 2017 race in Abu Dhabi. Max concludes: “Well, there are also long straights there. If they don’t turn up the engines, we won’t be able to do anything there. But it’s the last race, so we can finish it with fireworks. We’re going full speed ahead!”
Before the start of the race, it is 27 degrees warmer than previously this weekend and there is no rain expected. World champion Lewis Hamilton, who crashed during qualifying and therefore had to start from the back of the field, decided to start from the pits.
When the lights go out, Vettel has a good start and takes the lead. Max is able to retain his position and heads into the first corner in fourth. Daniel Ricciardo spins off track and moments later Esteban Ocon and Romain Grosjean get up close and personal and they also make an off course excursion. This brings out the safety car. Not much later, Ocon, Kevin Magnussen and Stoffel Vandoorne are the first drop outs. Pascal Wehrlein, Grosjean and Ricciardo have all done their pit stop and are able to continue on.
“How are the track conditions Max?” Max’ reply: “Sunny”. When the race is restarted on lap six, Hamilton wastes no time and is in a blink of an eye in P11. Max is up on Felipe Massa by two seconds but is trailing Kimi Raikkonen almost a whole second.
It looks like no one is bothered keeping Hamilton behind of them. After just twelve laps he is running in P8. Ricciardo is also busy with a push forward and is on the hunt for a top ten finish. Max informs his team on the radio that he is faster than Raikkonen. “But I’m stuck.” Vettel is still leading the pack and is two seconds up on Valtteri Bottas. He in turn is leading Raikkonen’s Ferrari by three seconds.
In the meantime, Hamilton is on Fernando Alonso’ six and it doesn’t take long before the Spaniard has to surrender. Not much later, he makes little work of Massa and the world champion sets his sight on Max’ Red Bull. The gap is however ten seconds. “The rear tyres are getting a bit warm”, Max tells his team. By now, it is clear that Grosjean has been given a ten-second time penalty for causing a collision with Ocon in the first lap.
“I am struggling now”, Max reports back to his team regarding the super-soft tyres. Moments later: “I can’t drive with these.” Bottas has gone in as well as Massa. Vettel and Max follow. The Dutchman has dropped to P7 due to his pit stop. His RB13 has been given some new soft rubbers.
With a nice move on Perez, Max moves on to P6, behind of Ricciardo. “Max is behind you on a new set of softs, don’t keep him up”, is what the Ozzie is informed on the radio by his team. “Understood”, Ricciardo replies. Max tops the leaderboard with a 1:12.864 and closes the gap to front runner Raikkonen to just a bit more than five seconds.
Half way the race, Max keeps pushing and is gaining on the Fin ahead of him. He betters the racelap to 1:12.763. Bringing down the gap to some four seconds.
On lap 44, Hamilton and Ricciardo both stop. The Brit drops back to P5, behind of Max while the Ozzie rejoins in P8, behind of Alonso.
With still 21 laps to go, Max is defending a lead of 7 seconds to the number five, Hamilton. The gap is getting, due to a series of fast laps by the Brit, clearly smaller.
“My tyres feel as hard as rocks”, Max complains on the radio. Hamilton has by now closed the gap. The world champion tries to attack Max from the outside in turn 1, but the Dutchman defends the inside very well and brakes ultra-late. On the next straight, Hamilton manages to pass Max as a result of his higher top speed.
Max wants to make another pit stop because his tyres are completely worn. His emgineer tells him that this isn’t necessary because he is not able to win here anymore. The pit stop is nevertheless done and with a set of super-softs strapped on to his RB13 he remains in fifth.
In the closing stages, Hamilton closes the gap to Raikkonen in third and Max drives the fastest lap time with a 1:11.044. Vettel wins the Brazilian Grand Prix unchallenged and in the end Hamilton fails to overtake Raikkonen. Max eventually crosses the line in fifth.
Brazilian Grand Prix - Autodrome Jose Carlos Pace - Sunday 12 November
RACE RESULTS 01 5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 71 1:31:26.262 02 77 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 71 +2.762s 03 7 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 71 +4.600s 04 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 71 +5.468s 05 33 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer 71 +32.940s 06 3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer 71 +48.691s 07 19 Felipe Massa Williams Mercedes 71 +68.882s 08 14 Fernando Alonso McLaren Honda 71 +69.363s 09 11 Sergio Perez Force India Mercedes 71 +69.500s 10 27 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 70 +1 lap 11 55 Carlos Sainz Renault 70 +1 lap 12 10 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso 70 +1 lap 13 9 Marcus Ericsson Sauber Ferrari 70 +1 lap 14 94 Pascal Wehrlein Sauber Ferrari 70 +1 lap 15 8 Romain Grosjean Haas Ferrari 69 +2 laps 16 18 Lance Stroll Williams Mercedes 69 +2 laps NC 28 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso 40 DNF NC 31 Esteban Ocon Force India Mercedes 0 DNF NC 20 Kevin Magnussen Haas Ferrari 0 DNF NC 2 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren Honda 0 DNF
