After the terrible news of Juha Miettinen’s (66) death last night, the race weekend on the Nordschleife continued this morning. On a rain-soaked circuit, Max Verstappen, along with teammate Lucas Auer, was back in action. This only resulted in a 32nd place, but with top qualifying still to come, the chance for pole is not yet over.
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Just like 24 hours ago, Lucas Auer was the first in the #3 Verstappen Racing this time too. Race control labeled the second qualifying session of the weekend as a ‘wet session’ after it had rained on the Nordschleife last night. Auer immediately drove to the second fastest time in his first fast lap, 9:12,204. After sharpening this a bit further to 9:12,173, it was Verstappen’s turn.
The Dutchman was the first driver of the session to dip below nine minutes, taking provisional pole with an 8:58,834. He was ten seconds faster than the provisional number two, but not long after, the #45 Ferrari and the #23 BMW went under the Dutch world champion’s time. The track then dried up, allowing one car after another to set a faster time than Team Verstappen. The four-time world champion remained in the garage, thus ending the session in 32nd place.
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Top Qualifying
However, this has no consequences yet for the starting grid of the second qualifying race later today. This will only be determined in top qualifying, which starts at 10:40 AM. During this qualifying session, each team gets one lap to set a fast time.
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