Max fifth in Shanghai FP2: 'Happy with long-runs'

Published on 13 April 2018 by Stefan Meens

Max Verstappen backed his fifth place in FP1 up with another P5 in the second free practice session of the Chinese Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton proved fastest in his Mercedes yet again ahead of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen and Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes).

“I’m happy with the long-runs”, said Max to Verstappen.nl. “It’s clear we have a good car for the race. We’re still making progress. Tomorrow we’ll do some fine tuning in FP3 and then we should have it all together for qualifying.”

The session gets underway at 2pm local time, but Aston Martin Red Bull Racing cars are not on track until fifteen minutes into practice. Max heads out for a short run on the soft tyres, before switching to fastest compound available this weekend; the ultra-softs.

At the halfway mark, Max is fifth behind both Ferrari and Mercedes. All of the top times are set on the ultra-soft Pirellis.

In the second half of the session, the teams focus on the race simulations. The lap times of Max, Hamilton and Vettel are closely matched.

During his long runs, Max tells the team he is not entirely happy with the balance of the RB14. Nevertheless, Max is able to stay out for a long time whilst posting competitive lap times.

In the closing stages, Stoffel Vandoorne parks his car on the side of the track after a wheel was not attached properly. McLaren is the third team, after Haas and Ferrari, to struggle with wheel issues.

Meanwhile, Max has switched to the faster, soft Pirelli compound for a final few laps when a light rain shower hits the Shanghai circuit.

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