Max amazingly P8 in Mexico: “Very happy”
Published on 31 October 2015 by Mike Motilall
Max Verstappen has amazingly finished in P8 during the qualifying for the Mexican Grand Prix. During qualifying, which started on a dry track, the 18-year old youngster was able to progress to Q3. Nico Rosberg took his fourth pole in a row for Mercedes and the twentieth in his career. Team mate and world champion Lewis Hamilton, was second, followed by Sebastian Vettel who was third in his Ferrari.
“I am very happy with P8”, Max tells Verstappen.nl afterwards. “Especially after missing FP2 yesterday and struggling a bit this morning in FP3. As a team we did very well. We managed to make the car suit me more. During qualifying it was exciting to make it through to Q3. The result of Q3 is great, because we are very close to the Red Bulls and are in front of both Force India’s. My lap was on the limit, so there was not much to improve there. The start of the race, with the long straight, will be tricky tomorrow; of course I am going to do my best to finish high in the points.”
At the start of Q1, we see both Toro Rosso’s on the harder compound tyres, making it out to the track as the first ones. Jenson Button leaves qualifying for what it is thanks to all the penalties. After the first run, Scuderia Toro Rosso is not secure enough to gamble on a one run on the mediums. So both drivers head out on the softs once more, resulting in Max getting briefly into the top six.
Eventually, he drops back two positions. Casualties after Q1, are not only Jenson Button and both Manor Marussia’s, but also Felipe Nasr’s Sauber and Fernando Alonso’s McLaren-Honda. The latter will probably need to start the race, together with his team mate, from the back because of new engines having been mounted.
Max wastes no time when Q2 gets going. He is the first to get on the circuit and after his first run, he is outside the top ten. In the first lap of his second run, he improves himself but is still to be found in the danger zone. Some raindrops start falling and in an ultimate effort to save his skin, he brilliantly manages to squeeze out an outstanding lap that earns him P8. Dropouts in Q2 are both Lotus drivers, Marcus Ericsson’s Sauber, Carlos Sainz’s Toro Rosso and – quite surprisingly – Kimi Raikkonen in his Ferrari. The Fin will also have to take a five-place grid penalty because of a gearbox change.
The rain was no threat and, in contrast with earlier this season, Toro Rosso decided to have Max do two runs instead of one in Q3. After his first run, he is in eighth; this has to do with the fact that both Force India cars only do one run. Both gents, however, are not able to beat the time set by Max in his second run, and therefore finish in P9 and P10. At the front, we find both Mercedes with Nico Rosberg grabbing topspot.
Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez – Mexican Grand Prix – Saturday 31 October 2015
RESULTS QUALIFYING P No Driver Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Laps 1 6 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:20.436 1:20.053 1:19.480 23 2 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:20.808 1:19.829 1:19.668 22 3 5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:20.503 1:20.045 1:19.850 18 4 26 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull 1:20.826 1:20.490 1:20.398 21 5 3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:21.166 1:20.783 1:20.399 23 6 77 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:20.817 1:20.458 1:20.448 26 7 19 Felipe Massa Williams 1:21.379 1:20.642 1:20.567 26 8 33 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso 1:20.995 1:20.894 1:20.710 28 9 11 Sergio Perez Force India 1:20.966 1:20.669 1:20.716 21 10 27 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:21.315 1:20.935 1:20.788 20 11 55 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:20.960 1:20.942 20 12 8 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:21.577 1:21.038 18 13 13 Pastor Maldonado Lotus 1:21.520 1:21.261 19 14 9 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:21.299 1:21.544 19 15 7 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:21.422 1:22.494 13 16 14 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:21.779 10 17 12 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:21.788 12 18 53 Alexander Rossi Marussia 1:24.136 10 19 28 Will Stevens Marussia 1:24.386 9
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