Max starts from fourth in Austin: “A pity, not a great lap”

Published on 22 October 2016 by Mike Motilall

Max Verstappen was the fourth fastest during qualifying for the United States Grand Prix. On the challenging Circuit of the Americas, it was Lewis Hamilton in his Mercedes who topped the leaderboard. Nico Rosberg came in second ahead of Daniel Ricciardo, who was third fastest for Red Bull Racing.

“It’s a pity”, says Max after qualifying. “I was told on the radio not to change a couple of things, which really didn’t help at all. I had a lot of oversteer in the last few corners and indeed, it wasn’t a great lap. The team asked which tyre I wanted to use in Q2 and I went with the soft tyre, on which I will also start the race with. We’ll see tomorrow. The aim is to stay ahead of the Ferrari’s and we will try to do that. It will be an interesting race.”

When the lights turn green at the end of the pit lane for Q1 in Austin, Sergio Perez, Esteban Ocon and Pascal Wehrlein are the first to get the party going on. The last is the first to get a time on the clocks, while Max also heads out on track.

The Dutchman has the super soft tyres strapped on to his RB12. After his first run, he is in third behind both of the Mercedes. Ricciardo is a tenth down on Max’ time shortly afterwards, which puts him in fourth. Nico Hulkenberg is quite decently fifth, ahead of both Ferrari’s.

After the first run, both Manors, both Saubers, Esteban Gutierrez and Jenson Button are in the knock out zone. Starting from tenth and lower, all cars head back out for a second run and when everyone has done their run, the flag drops for both Manors, Felipe Nasr, Romain Grosjean, Kevin Magnussen and Jenson Button.

At the start of Q2, the Mercedes head out on track on a new set of softs. Both Red Bulls take to the circuit on different compound tyres. Max is on the softs, just like the Mercedes drivers. Ricciardo has opted to run on the super soft compound tyre. After the first run, Ricciardo leads the pack, ahead of both Mercedes, both Ferrari’s and Max, who is in sixth.

All the drivers from sixth place and lower take to the track for a second run. Max’ sixth place eventually turns into seventh, meaning that he will start the race this Sunday on the soft compound. Daniil Kvyat, Sergio Perez, Fernando Alonso, Marcus Ericsson, Jolyon Palmer and Gutierrez are the dropouts in Q2.

Mercedes is the first to get things going at the start of Q3. Rosberg is the first to get a timed lap, which is bettered not much later by Hamilton. Max is third fastest and is briefly in third until his team mate slightly improves that.

The second run will have to be the differentiator. Max is behind of the Mercedes, but in front of Ricciardo and when the flag drops, Hamilton manages to keep Rosberg at bay. Max improves his time and re-takes P3. Moments later he is forced to witness how Ricciardo once again betters his time and once more relegates him from the third spot. The race on Sunday starts at 21.00 hrs. Dutch time.

United States Grand Prix - Circuit of the Americas - Saturday 22 October

Results Qualifying

01  Lewis Hamilton      Mercedes                    1:36.296 1:36.450 1:34.999 
02  Nico Rosberg        Mercedes                    1:36.397 1:36.351 1:35.215 
03  Daniel Ricciardo    Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer   1:36.759 1:36.255 1:35.509 
04  Max Verstappen      Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer   1:36.613 1:36.857 1:35.747 
05  Kimi Räikkönen      Ferrari                     1:36.985 1:36.584 1:36.131 
06  Sebastian Vettel    Ferrari                     1:37.151 1:36.462 1:36.358 
07  Nico Hulkenberg     Force India Mercedes        1:36.950 1:36.626 1:36.628 
08  Valtteri Bottas     Williams Mercedes           1:37.456 1:37.202 1:37.116 
09  Felipe Massa        Williams Mercedes           1:37.402 1:37.214 1:37.269 
10  Carlos Sainz        Toro Rosso Ferrari          1:37.744 1:37.175 1:37.326 
11  Sergio Perez        Force India Mercedes        1:37.345 1:37.353 
12  Fernando Alonso     McLaren Honda               1:37.913 1:37.417 
13  Daniil Kvyat        Toro Rosso Ferrari          1:37.844 1:37.480 
14  Esteban Gutierrez   Haas Ferrari                1:38.053 1:37.773 
15  Jolyon Palmer       Renault                     1:38.084 1:37.935 
16  Marcus Ericsson     Sauber Ferrari              1:38.040 1:39.356 
17  Romain Grosjean     Haas Ferrari                1:38.308 
18  Kevin Magnussen     Renault                     1:38.317 
19  Jenson Button       McLaren Honda               1:38.327 
20  Pascal Wehrlein     MRT Mercedes                1:38.548 
21  Felipe Nasr         Sauber Ferrari              1:38.583 
22  Esteban Ocon        MRT Mercedes                1:38.806 

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