Max fifth at second practice Bahrain: “Very happy with the long runs”

Published on 06 April 2018 by Mike Motilall

After he, due to an electrical issue, had to watch his peers for the greater part of the first qualifying session from the side, Max Verstappen came back with full force and planted his Red Bull RB14 on P5. Ferrari running Kimi Raikkonen came in first followed by his team mate Sebastian Vettel. Valtteri Bottas finished third fastest in his Mercedes.

“I am very happy with the long runs”, Max tells Verstappen.nl after the session. “The temperature difference of the track between the first and second free practice is enormous. I was able to do five, six laps with super steady lap times. That looks positive for the race in any case. I am looking forward to tomorrow with high hopes.”

At the start of the most important free training of the weekend, Aston Martin Red Bull Racing has managed to get Max’ car operational again. It is getting dark and the lights have been lit. This session is important due to the fact that the conditions are comparable with qualifying and the race. Kevin Magnussen is the first one to head out on track when the lights turn green. Team mate Romain Grosjean follows not much later. Quickly the rest of the cars are out on track, but Max takes his time.

After ten minutes into the session, the young Dutchman is out on track. There isn’t much drive at first, but in the final sector of his out lap he steps on it. The moment that Max is in his first timed lap, Marcus Ericsson slips off track into the gravel trap. This doesn’t stop the quick youngster to end up being second fastest. In front of him he has only Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari.

Max stays out for a longer run on the softs and is testing the limits of the track numerous times. At the end of his run he asks his engineer if he is allowed to do some more laps, to which he replies that that won’t be any problem. By now, he has taken all from his tyres that was to take. When Max rejoins his team, both Ferrari’s are in the lead with Max on P6.

It takes a while before Max heads back out again. With just one run on the soft tyre he has dropped to P9. For his second run, a set of the super softs have been strapped on to his RB14. His first flying lap on these tyres put him just ahead of his team mate Ricciardo, in fifth. “Why am I so slow on the straight? Unbelieveable”, says Max on the radio. “Don’t worry”, his engineer tells him. He is allowed to do another flying lap, but declines and returns to the pits.

With just half an hour to go, we see Max on track again. The focus appears to have been shifted to race simulation for most of the teams. Max is running on a scrubbed set of super soft tyres and also appears to be doing a race simulation. “You have the least degradation out of everyone”, Max’ engineer tells him. He is informed that he is doing an excellent job. The times the quick Dutchman is clocking are comparable, if not even better than his competitors from Ferrari and Mercedes.

In the final stages we see Raikkonen’s Ferrari grind to a halt at turn three. The Fin reports on the radio that there is a problem and is informed that he needs to turn off the car. Shortly before, he had been in for a tyre exchange. Apparently something went wrong during his stop, the right front wheel hasn’t been properly mounted. Race control is investigating the matter concerning Raikkonen which could potentially earn the Finn a grid penalty.

Meanwhile, Max, and his team mate Ricciardo, have continued driving on and the times driven remain competitive compared to those of Ferrari and Mercedes.

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Results second free practice Bahrain: