Max fourth in Malaysian FP2: "We"ll have to improve"

Published on 29 September 2017 by Stefan Meens

Max Verstappen’s P1 in the first practice session of the Malaysian Grand Prix, was followed up by a fourth place in FP2. The Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen lead the field, with the German quickest of the two. Daniel Ricciardo was third, a mere hundredths of a second quicker than his Red Bull Racing team mate.

The session did not last the full ninety minutes. With twenty minutes to go, Romain Grosjean crashed his Haas F1 hard into the tyre wall. The Frenchman had hit a dislodged rain cover, resulting in a puncture that send him into the barriers.

With a fourth place, Max is fairly happy: “We can’t battle the Ferraris just yet, Sebastian was very quick. We tried a few things with the car but it’s not yet working on brand new super-softs. We made some further changes but we then set a time on used tyres. Nevertheless, we managed to go four tenths quicker. Tomorrow will be better but we have to improve if we want to beat the Ferraris.”

Regarding the Red Bull’s race pace, it is too early to make predictions. “Because of the red flag, I wasn’t able to do a long run. Daniel’s times didn’t look too bad, but they weren’t as fast as Sebastian’s. We’ll hope for rain, because we’re quicker in those conditions.”

Unlike FP1, the second Friday practice session is run in dry conditions. It therefore does not take long for the lap times to tumble and Sebastian Vettel is the first to break the lap record set in 2005.

Because of rain in the earlier session, FP2 is the first opportunity for the drivers to find the limit. Lewis Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas (both Mercedes) and Carlos Sainz find the limit and go over it. All three hit the gravel but are able to continue.

In the end, it is a session without much drama until Romain Grosjean’s crash end the practice prematurely after a dislodged drain cover send the Haas into the barriers.

Malaysian Grand Prix - Sepang International Circuit - Friday 29 September

FREE PRACTICE 2 RESULTS

01  5 Sebastian Vettel    Ferrari                     1:31.261  23
02  7 Kimi Räikkönen      Ferrari                     1:31.865 +0.604s  19
03  3 Daniel Ricciardo    Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer   1:32.099 +0.838s  19
04 33 Max Verstappen      Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer   1:32.109 +0.848s  11
05 14 Fernando Alonso     McLaren Honda               1:32.564 +1.303s  14
06 44 Lewis Hamilton      Mercedes                    1:32.677 +1.416s  15
07 77 Valtteri Bottas     Mercedes                    1:32.720 +1.459s  21
08 11 Sergio Perez        Force India Mercedes        1:32.862 +1.601s  20
09 27 Nico Hulkenberg     Renault                     1:33.060 +1.799s  24
10 31 Esteban Ocon        Force India Mercedes        1:33.096 +1.835s  24
11 30 Jolyon Palmer       Renault                     1:33.381 +2.120s  26
12 19 Felipe Massa        Williams Mercedes           1:33.394 +2.133s  20
13  2 Stoffel Vandoorne   McLaren Honda               1:33.673 +2.412s  15
14 18 Lance Stroll        Williams Mercedes           1:33.818 +2.557s  16
15 10 Pierre Gasly        Toro Rosso                  1:34.043 +2.782s  22
16 55 Carlos Sainz        Toro Rosso                  1:34.104 +2.843s  19
17  8 Romain Grosjean     Haas Ferrari                1:34.118 +2.857s  18
18 20 Kevin Magnussen     Haas Ferrari                1:34.343 +3.082s  17
19 94 Pascal Wehrlein     Sauber Ferrari              1:35.246 +3.985s  29
20  9 Marcus Ericsson     Sauber Ferrari              1:35.697 +4.436s  27

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