Max starting Spanish GP from 5th: 'Top three not possible today'

Published on 12 May 2018 by Mike Motilall

Max Verstappen finished fifth fastest during qualifying in the run up to the Spanish Grand Prix, which will be held tomorrow. With a 1:16.816 the Dutchman barely stayed ahead of his team mate Daniel Ricciardo. Mercedes was the quickest, both of their drivers Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas have locked out the front row. Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen followed in third and fourth, and will be starting the race from the second row.

Max looks back at qualifying, during which his RB14 looked very competitive, especially during the first two sessions: “That’s always the case till Q3, when the competition turn up their engines. From Turn one through four it’s flat out. We lose top speed there because of the friction with the tyres. Turn seven till eight is kind of a straight, because Turn nine is also flat out. That’s hurting us, especially in Q3.”

Verstappen backed off from his last timed lap during the third part of qualifying: “I couldn’t finish my last lap, because I had a slight moment after the first corner”, says the Dutchman. “The gap is a bit bigger than it should have been, but making it into the top three was still not possible today. At this moment, it is just very difficult with the new asphalt and cold tyres. Despite that it wasn’t a bad qualifying. Our long runs are good and we still have a good chance during the race tomorrow.”

During Q3 we saw that both the soft and the super-soft were used for a fast lap. Verstappen went for the super-soft eventually, even though it remained unclear which one was the best: “I still don’t know which one is still the best. The difference between a super-soft and soft is just too small. It shouldn’t be that you need to doubt whether you need to go for the harder compound because maybe it’s faster.” Regarding the tyre strategie tomorrow, Max says: “I don’t think that the super-soft will be used much. You may be fast over one lap, but in the long run they will degrade faster. I expect the soft and mediums to be used a lot more.”

With some overcast, the qualifying session for the Spanish Grand Prix gets underway. Brendon Hartley is not present, his Toro Rosso is not at his disposal seeing it was severely damaged during the third free practice.

Lance Stroll is the first driver to venture out and get a time on the clock. Not much later, this is bettered by both Ferrari drivers. Max Verstappen reports for duty some eight minutes later on the deck. Fastest man at that moment is Kimi Raikkonen, he clocks a 1:17.483 on the super-softs. Max is six fastest with a 1:17.846 after his first lap. The Dutchman betters his time to a 1:17.411.  This puts him in second, four tenths adrift from Sebastian Vettel

In the dying seconds of the first part of qualifying, Lance Stroll loses control over his Williams in Turn twelve. The Canadian winds up in the gravel trap and triggers a yellow flag. Drop outs in the first part of qualifying are: Nico Hulkenberg, Marcus Ericsson, Sergey Sirotkin and Lance Stroll.

During Q2 the Ferrari’s keep setting the tone and it’s Mercedes and Aston Martin Red Bull Racing (with Kevin Magnussen in between) that follow. Verstappen moves up to P5 with his first timed lap being a 1:17.266. His fastest lap, just like those of the rest, was done on the yellow striped tyre. This means they will be starting on this compound tomorrow.

Max heads back out with a minute and a half remaing on the clock, but aborts his lap when it becomes apparant that the time he has set is good enough to move on to Q3. Those failing to move on are Stoffel Vandoorne, Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon, Charles Leclerc and Sergio Pérez.

The third and final part of qualifying gets underway with the drivers from Red Bull, Mercedes, Ferrari, Haas, Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso. Max does a 1:16.816 in his first outing, good enough for the second spot at that moment. The gap to Hamilton on P1 (+0.325) is relatively big. Team mate Daniel Ricciardo ends up after the first runs third fastest, leaving Bottas, Vettel and Alonso behind of him.

With little over two minutes remaining on the clock, Max Verstappen is out on the tarmac again. On a new set of the super-softs, the 2016-race winner prepares himself for his final timed lap. However, Verstappen aborts his lap due to a moment in the first sector.

Meanwhile, Hamilton betters his time to a 1:16.173. Nobody is able to beat that and this ensures that the Britt will be starting the race from pole-position tomorrow. Valtteri Bottas keeps the gap to his team mate to a bare minimum with just four hundredths of a second. Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen are starting the race from the second row tomorrow. Max Verstappen is ahead of team mate Daniel Ricciardo by just 0.002 second and finishes fifth fastest.

The Spanish Grand Prix will start tomorrow at 15:10 hrs. local time.

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