Max starts race in Brazil from P5: 'Not the best balance'

Published on 10 November 2018 by Raymond Snip

Max Verstappen will start the Brazilian Grand Prix from a preliminary third starting row. On the 4.309 meter long Interlagos circuit the Dutchman set the fifth quickest time. Lewis Hamilton took pole position for Mercedes. Sebastian Vettel was second in his Ferrari in front of the Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas. Max’ team-mate Daniel Ricciardo closed the qualifying session in sixth spot. Vettel and Hamilton are still facing a possible penalty, which can still upset the starting grid.

"We did not have the best balance in the car during qualifying today," Max said after qualifying. "That would not have changed much either, we could have been a bit closer to Kimi but it is what it is." Looking ahead to the race, Max continues: "The setup we had today will help us tomorrow when it gets warmer during the race."

At the start of Q1 there appears to be a 60% chance of rain during qualifying. Daniel Ricciardo, because of a new turbo, and Esteban Ocon, because of a new gearbox, have received a five-spot grid penalty for the race. The drivers don’t take any changes and all go out as soon as the lights go green, to not be surprised by a rain shower.

Lewis Hamilton immediately put himself on P1 but was later passed by Kimi Raikkonen. Max goes two tenths faster and in turn takes P1 from the Finn. Charles Leclerc, sixth in the times list, spins but can continue undamaged. Several drivers now report that the first drops are falling. However, the rain holds off. After the first session we say goodbye to both McLarens, Carlos Sainz, Brendon Hartley, and Lance Stroll. Remarkable: Sergey Sirotkin has been able to battle his Williams through Q1.

At the start of Q2 everyone is back on track quickly because more rain is expected. "We expect rain in four minutes", Romain Grosjean’s engineer reports through his on-board radio. Just like in Q1, Max immediately puts his RB14 on P1. Both Mercedes immediately beat his time. "I can see the rain coming," Hamilton reports via his radio.

After a short stop, Max returns to the soft tyres. However, he does not manage to go faster than on the supersofts. In the meantime, Hamilton has had two moments, Sirotkin almost crashes into the rear of the World Champion, who wanted to move over for the Russian and later he also runs into Kimi Raikkonen. The question is whether Hamilton will get away with this without a penalty.

For the time being Valtteri Bottas, Hamilton, Max and Daniel Ricciardo have set their fastest time on supersoft tyres. Sebastian Vettel and Raikkonen did so on softs. It seems that we are no longer seeing any improvements, which means that Leclerc, Sergio Perez, Esteban Ocon, Nico Hülkenberg and Sirotkin will be eliminated. However, Leclerc manages to squeeze out an improvement of his lap time and moves up to P8. With that, Kevin Magnussen is pushed out. Vettel and Raikkonen will start on softs tomorrow, the rest of the top ten will start on supersofts.

In the meantime, Vettel has to report to the stewards after qualifying. He had to report to the FIA ​​weighbridge during Q2. He had to switch off his engine, but he did not want this because he was in a hurry. With that he has damaged the weighbridge according to the FIA.

Unlike in Q1 and Q2, everyone stays in at the start of Q3. When after a few minutes the drivers take to the track, they all do so on supersoft tyres. After his first run, Max is on P5 behind Hamilton, Vettel, Bottas and Raikkonen. The gap to the drivers in front him seems, with more than three-tenths, to be not manageable.

For the second run everyone goes out on a new set of supersofts. Only Ericsson and Hamilton improve their time but not their place. So it’s P5 for Max.

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Results qualifying Brazil: