Max Verstappen notes fifth time in third free practice

Published on 04 July 2015 by Mike Motilall

During the last free practice for the British Grand Prix on Silverstone, Max Verstappen noted the fifth time. Behind the Mercedes and Ferrari’s, the young Dutchman showcased why he was a force to be reckoned with. With his team mate, Carlos Sainz, in sixth, the Scuderia Toro Rosso duo demonstrated why the STR10 chassis is one of the best in the field. The fastest time during the session, was done by Lewis Hamilton. The Brit noted a 1:32.917 in his Mercedes and with that, was more than half a second quicker than the rest of the field.

The session gets on its way in cloudy conditions, but the sun starts to make its presence felt. Max’ first fast lap is a 1:35.766. However, he is not content as he is heard complaining on the radio about oversteer in turn three, which reciprocates negatively in the combination of turns that follows. But he manages to improve to a 1:35.232., P3 and exactly three tenths shy of the fastest time at that moment. Keeping in mind that the Mercedes and Red Bulls have yet to venture out for clocked laptimes.

“I don’t know why, but turn three is lap after lap, impossible to negotiate. I keep locking up my front tyres when turning in, and in the middle of the corner when exiting, I am oversteering", says Max.

The Mercedes have by now re-established the status quo and are ahead of the entire field by over a second. Despite the fact that Hamilton during the first free practices was not happy about the performance of the car, he and Nico Rosberg leave no doubs to who the favourites are to claim victory on Sunday.

Verstappen heads out on track for a second time, and manages to take off another two tenths of his fastest time resulting in a 1:35.048. But there is no long stint intended: “There is no point in going on, I have lost a lot of grip”, the youngster reports on the radio to his team. By then, the quickest Renault-driver again.

The end of the third free practice is most noticeable by the teams’ qualifying-simulations. During this, they do a set-up for the most important session of the race, which will take place this afternoon at 14.00 hrs. Dutch time. Then the soft compound tyres will be strapped on and the fastest times will be noted. Verstappen is able to clock a 1:34.147 at the end of the session; putting him in fifth, behind both Ferrari’s and both Mercedes. He is 1,2 seconds shy of the fastest time, enabling the youngster to demonstrate continuity: the entire weekend the gap to the fastest Mercedes has been just that.

Rosberg clocks the second time of the session, Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel follow in third and fourth. The Toro Rosso remain quite remarkably ahead of both Williams’: Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas are seventh and eighth.

Silverstone - British Grand Prix - Saturday 4 July

 P No Driver             Team          Time     Gap   Laps 
 1 44 Lewis Hamilton     Mercedes      1:32.917         18 
 2  6 Nico Rosberg       Mercedes      1:33.469 +0.552s 14 
 3  7 Kimi Räikkönen     Ferrari       1:33.692 +0.775s 20 
 4  5 Sebastian Vettel   Ferrari       1:33.918 +1.001s 17 
 5 33 Max Verstappen     Toro Rosso    1:34.147 +1.230s 20 
 6 55 Carlos Sainz       Toro Rosso    1:34.282 +1.365s 23 
 7 19 Felipe Massa       Williams      1:34.501 +1.584s 19 
 8 77 Valtteri Bottas    Williams      1:34.538 +1.621s 19 
 9 26 Daniil Kvyat       Red Bull      1:34.545 +1.628s 16 
10 13 Pastor Maldonado   Lotus         1:34.708 +1.791s 25 
11 27 Nico Hulkenberg    Force India   1:34.886 +1.969s 21 
12  3 Daniel Ricciardo   Red Bull      1:34.896 +1.979s 15 
13 11 Sergio Perez       Force India   1:35.121 +2.204s 22 
14  8 Romain Grosjean    Lotus         1:35.246 +2.329s 22 
15 12 Felipe Nasr        Sauber        1:35.587 +2.670s 19 
16 22 Jenson Button      McLaren       1:35.695 +2.778s 19 
17  9 Marcus Ericsson    Sauber        1:35.919 +3.002s 20 
18 14 Fernando Alonso    McLaren       1:36.101 +3.184s  6 
19 28 Will Stevens       Marussia      1:37.989 +5.072s 19 
20 98 Roberto Merhi      Marussia      1:38.285 +5.368s 18 

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