Max fifth in Australian GP: “The best we could do”
Published on 26 March 2017 by Mike Motilall
Max Verstappen finished fifth in the Australian Grand Prix. The Dutch Red Bull Racing-driver drove a flawless race on the Melbourne circuit, where a fairly timid opening of the season took place. Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel won the race, the German took down Hamilton during the pit stops. Valtteri Bottas claimed the final podium spot.
“I think this was the maximum we could achieve today. The result is perhaps even better than we expected, because the race pace was even better than in qualifying”, says a happy Max after the race. “The start was good. The minute I left the pits, I felt that the clutch was good. I only needed to focus myself on reacting quickly enough and letting go of the clutch on time, and that worked out fine. That’s why I had a good start. Too bad I was a little too close to the Mercedes, when exiting the first corner. He had better traction out of the corner, because he had no car in front of him. After that it was difficult to get close. Our speed was good, but when you’re two seconds behind someone, it’s just harder, you lose so much grip.”
During his only pit stop of the entire race, Max changes to the super soft tyres, as oppose to the top four. They change to the soft compound tyres. According to Verstappen a deliberate choice: “It has always been our intention to run on that compound tyre and eventually it worked out fine, because we were just fast after that.” At the end of the race, Max was forced to abort his hunt for Raikkonen’s fourth place: “We needed to monitor the brakes, I was suffering from that during the final laps of the race, so I was forced to coast to the finish.”
The only time that Verstappen really gets to tango, is just before his pit stop. At that moment he is briefly ahead of Hamilton, who has just gone in. Vettel emerges, after his stop, just in front of the Dutchman on track. A small disappointment for the youngster: “Actually, I wanted him to get back behind of me on track. When he got out of the pit, I tried to overtake him, but I couldn’t make it stick. Then it would have been even nicer. But my tyres were too old and he defended the inside of the corner. All in all, the race was even nicer than expected, because I always had someone in front of me I could drive up to. I didn’t find it heavy, after the race I felt even better than last year.”
Finally, Jumbo’s boss Frits van Eerd is personally congratulated regarding his birthday: “It is nice to be together in Formula 1, looking back at how it all started, as the first sponsor in Formula 3.”
Max starts the race in fifth, there wasn’t much more to get out of it during qualifying says the youngster. Team mate Ricciardo crashes in the third part of qualifying, resulting in him starting from tenth. This eventually becomes fifteenth when, prior to the race, it is announced that the Ossie has had a gearbox change. Heading to the grid, Ricciardo once again runs into problems, causing him to start the race from the pit lane. At the start of the race, his mechanics aren’t done fixing the car.
When all of the drivers have taken up their positions, the lights turn yellow, meaning the start will be delayed. They need to do another formation lap. When the entire field is eventually let loose, the top five has been able to maintain their position. Max has a clean get away but is unable to pass Raikkonen. Magnussen runs into Ericsson in turn three but both are able to continue on. The rest of the drivers manage to survive the first lap. After the second lap, Ricciardo’s car has been repaired and he heads out on track, trailing by a lot. The whole field starts panning out in the following laps, causing Max to slightly lose sight on Raikkonen, but his lead on Massa is slowly building up, lap after lap.
Grosjean comes in on lap fifteen with a smoking car, making him the first drop out of the race. A big disappointment for the Frenchman, as he was quite happily running in seventh. One lap later, leader of the pack, Hamilton, comes in for his pit stop as the first of the front runners. The Brit changes to the soft compound and re-emerges in fifth on track, behind of Verstappen. Meanwhile the other Brit, Jolyon Palmer, is forced to park his Renault in the pit due to technical issues.
Hamilton is quickly closing in on Verstappen, who is running in fourth, after his first stop. The Mercedes-driver is not able to get pass the Dutchman. As Hamilton reports to his team “I cannot get pass him”, Max in turn reports: “I am starting to struggle with my rear tyres.”
On lap 23, Vettel comes in for his first pit stop. The German re-emerges right in front of Verstappen, meaning the Ferrari-driver has passed Hamilton. On lap 26, Max also comes in for his first pit stop. The ultra-soft compounds he used in the second part of qualifying, are exchanged for the super-softs. The Dutchman is fifth when he gets back on track and on a different strategy compared to the men in front of him. The entire top four is on the soft tyre.
Ricciardo is forced to park his car alongside the track on lap 29. This means the end of a disappointing home race for him. At the front, Vettel has managed to increase his lead on Hamilton by almost five seconds. Verstappen is running in no-man’s land as he is trailing Raikkonen by six seconds and leading Massa by over 25 seconds. The Dutchman is able to gain on Raikkonen, little by little, for the remainder of the race on the soft compound tyre. On lap 44, Max lights up the leader board purple by being the fastest on track with a 1:26.964. However, he poses no threat for the Fin. Meanwhile, rookie-driver Lance Stroll has to give up the race from P13 due to an off-course excursion.
In the final stages of the race, there is a great battle between Alonso, Ocon and Hulkenberg. Three abreast they cross the finish line, getting on the straight. Ocon is the one who comes out on top and snatches the final point. With two laps remaining, Max asks his team: “How much faster is the fastest lap?”. “Too fast”, is his team’s reply. The Dutchman in his RB13 crosses the line in fifth.
After 57 laps, it is Sebastian Vettel who is the first to take the checkered flag. Claiming the first victory for Ferrari since the Singapore Grand Prix in 2015. Hamilton and Bottas both round up the podium in second and third, while Raikkonen manages to finish before Verstappen in fourth.
Australian Grand Prix - Albert Park - Sunday 26 March 2017
FINAL RESULTS 01 5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 57 1:24:11.672 02 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 57 +9.975s 03 77 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 57 +11.250s 04 7 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 57 +22.393s 05 33 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer 57 +28.827s 06 19 Felipe Massa Williams Mercedes 57 +83.386s 07 11 Sergio Perez Force India Mercedes 56 +1 lap 08 55 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 56 +1 lap 09 26 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 56 +1 lap 10 31 Esteban Ocon Force India Mercedes 56 +1 lap 11 27 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 56 +1 lap 12 36 Antonio Giovinazzi Sauber Ferrari 55 +2 laps 13 2 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren Honda 55 +2 laps NC 14 Fernando Alonso McLaren Honda 50 DNF NC 20 Kevin Magnussen Haas Ferrari 46 DNF NC 18 Lance Stroll Williams Mercedes 40 DNF NC 3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer 25 DNF NC 9 Marcus Ericsson Sauber Ferrari 21 DNF NC 30 Jolyon Palmer Renault 15 DNF NC 8 Romain Grosjean Haas Ferrari 13 DNF
