Max quickest during Hockenheim practice: 'It's looking good'
Published on 20 July 2018 by Stefan Meens
Max Verstappen was quickest on the Friday of the German Grand Prix. The Aston Martin Red Bull Racing driver was fastest (1:13.085) in the second free practice session, ahead of Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and his Finnish team mate Valtteri Bottas. The other RB14, of Daniel Ricciardo, clocked the 13th quickest time.
“It’s looking good” said Max to Verstappen.nl. “We were quick one every tyre compound and on my fastest lap I had some traffic. After that, we had a small oil leak, but luckily we could do some laps at the end to check everything was fine.”
Looking forward to qualifying in Saturday, Max added: “We’ll have to wait and see what the weather does, but hopefully we’re close.”
Apart from a couple of spins and some drivers going wide, the second free practice session is uneventful. It follows the usual pattern of set-up testing, qualifying simulations and long runs.
At the halfway mark, Max moves on to qualifying simulations. On a new set of the ultra-soft Pirellis, he sets a new track record: 1:13.085. It is a time that will not be beaten in the remainder of the session.
In the final third of FP2, the focus shifts from quali to race simulations. During Max’ long run, the engine in the RB14 produces a peculiar when downshifting. The team take no risks and call Max back into the garage to investigate.
His mechanics manage to fix the issue and the Dutchman returns on track with a couple of minutes left on the clock. He does not improve on his lap time, but his earlier set 1:13.0 is still the quickest time of a productive day for the youngster.
Results second free practice Germany:
| pos | driver | team | time | gap | laps | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Max Verstappen | VER | Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer | 1:13.085 | 18 | |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | HAM | Mercedes | 1:13.111 | +0.026s | 39 |
| 3 | Valteri Bottas | BOT | Mercedes | 1:13.190 | +0.105s | 39 |
| 4 | Sebastian Vettel | VET | Ferrari | 1:13.310 | +0.225s | 46 |
| 5 | Kimi Räikkönen | RAI | Ferrari | 1:13.427 | +0.342s | 41 |
| 6 | Romain Grosjean | GRO | Haas Ferrari | 1:13.973 | +0.888s | 34 |
| 7 | Kevin Magnussen | MAG | Haas Ferrari | 1:14.189 | +1.104s | 36 |
| 8 | Charles Leclerc | LEC | Sauber Ferrari | 1:14.374 | +1.289s | 41 |
| 9 | Nico Hulkenberg | HUL | Renault | 1:14.496 | +1.411s | 31 |
| 10 | Esteban Ocon | OCO | Force India Mercedes | 1:14.508 | +1.423s | 39 |
| 11 | Sergio Perez | PER | Force India Mercedes | 1:14.552 | +1.467s | 38 |
| 12 | Carlos Sainz | SAI | Renault | 1:14.592 | +1.507s | 43 |
| 13 | Daniel Ricciardo | RIC | Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer | 1:14.682 | +1.597s | 36 |
| 14 | Marcus Ericsson | ERI | Sauber Ferrari | 1:14.783 | +1.698s | 38 |
| 15 | Pierre Gasly | GAS | Scuderia Toro Rosso Honda | 1:14.793 | +1.708s | 44 |
| 16 | Brendon Hartley | HAR | Scuderia Toro Rosso Honda | 1:14.830 | +1.745s | 45 |
| 17 | Fernando Alonso | ALO | McLaren Renault | 1:14.836 | +1.751s | 38 |
| 18 | Lance Stroll | STR | Williams Mercedes | 1:15.269 | +2.184s | 36 |
| 19 | Sergey Sirotkin | SIR | Williams Mercedes | 1:15.408 | +2.323s | 41 |
| 20 | Stoffel Vandoorne | VAN | McLaren Renault | 1:15.454 | +2.369s | 34 |
