Max qualifies fifth for season opener: "Better than expected"
Published on 25 March 2017 by Stefan Meens
After several frustrating free practice sessions, Max Verstappen qualified in fifth for the opening round of the 2017 Formula 1 season. Lewis Hamilton took pole for the Australian Grand Prix beating Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) and his new Mercedes team Valtteri Bottas to the top spot.
“It was better than expected”, said Max post-qualifying. “The car is very sensitive to set-up changes. Sometimes you suffer oversteer and someties understeer and it’s been a variable weekend so far. We weren’t able to do a lot of laps so qualifying in fifth with a reasonable balance is pretty good.”
Asked what he expects of the race, Max said: “Overtaking will be really difficult. It was tough last year but even more so this year with the wider cars. Hopefully we’ll have a good start. It will probably be a lonely race with not much threat from behind and being off the pace compared to the front.”
At the start of qualifying, Williams are working hard to ensure Lance Stroll can contest his first quali. The Canadian crashed the car in FP3, but the British team are able to get the car ready on time. Nevertheless, the rookie was not able to make it into Q1 as well as receiving a five-place grid penalty.
Other casualties of the first qualifying session were Kevin Magnussen (Haas), Jolyon Palmer (Renault), Stoffel Vandoorne (McLaren) and Antonio Giovinazzi (Sauber). The latter nearly caused a shock by almost out-qualifying his more experienced team mate Marcus Ericsson in only the Italian’s first Grand Prix weekend.
For both Force India’s Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon, Nico Hulkenberg (Renault), Fernando Alonso (McLaren) and Marcus Ericsson (Sauber) Q2 is the final qualifying session. The top three teams comfortably progressed to Q3 but Max opted for an extra flying lap to cement his place in the final part of quali.
At the start of Q3, spots of rain hit Albert Park but not enough to hinder qualifying with the drivers heading out on the ultra-soft Pirelli slicks. The Ferraris and Mercedes set the pace in the early part of the session before Daniel Ricciardo causes a red flag. The Red Bull Racer lost the rear of his car going into turn 14. The result is a RB13 parked, rear-first, into the tire wall.
With eight minutes remaining, Max heads out for his single flying lap. In the end, it is P5 for the Dutchman behind Lewis Hamilton (pole), Sebastian Vettel, Valtteri Bottas and Kimi Raikkonen. Daniel Ricciardo will start the race in tenth.
Australian Grand Prix - Albert Park - Saturday 25 March 2017
QUALIFYING RESULTS 01 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:24.191 1:23.251 1:22.188 14 02 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:25.210 1:23.401 1:22.456 17 03 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:24.514 1:23.215 1:22.481 13 04 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:24.352 1:23.376 1:23.033 19 05 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer 1:24.482 1:24.092 1:23.485 18 06 Romain Grosjean Haas Ferrari 1:25.419 1:24.718 1:24.074 17 07 Felipe Massa Williams Mercedes 1:25.099 1:24.597 1:24.443 16 08 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:25.542 1:24.997 1:24.487 16 09 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:25.970 1:24.864 1:24.512 16 10 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer 1:25.383 1:23.989 10 11 Sergio Perez Force India Mercedes 1:25.064 1:25.081 13 12 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1:24.975 1:25.091 12 13 Fernando Alonso McLaren Honda 1:25.872 1:25.425 15 14 Esteban Ocon Force India Mercedes 1:26.009 1:25.568 16 15 Marcus Ericsson Sauber Ferrari 1:26.236 1:26.465 15 16 Antonio Giovinazzi Sauber Ferrari 1:26.419 8 17 Kevin Magnussen Haas Ferrari 1:26.847 7 18 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren Honda 1:26.858 6 19 Lance Stroll Williams Mercedes 1:27.143 7 20 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1:28.244 7
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