Max had an action packed weekend at the Belgian Grand Prix circuit with a storming recovery drive in the first race and having to cope with atrocious weather in the second.

Coming away from Spa with points for 4th and 6th places was a great result for Max after stalling on the grid and a poor qualifying session had left him with plenty to do.

In the first qualifying session Max set the pace early on, heading the screens until his time was bettered by his Carlin team mate Dan Ricciardo. Max ended the session 2nd fastest and was happy to have secured a front row start for Friday’s race.

“I’m really pleased to be back on the front row, we’ve had a couple of really tough races, so it’s nice to be back at the front again this weekend.  There weren’t really many changes we could make as qualifying was our first dry session of the day, but I knew there would only be a short window of opportunity on the tyres and I really went for it.  I got a small tow off Jake which helped me, but I’m confident we’ve got good pace in the dry here.”

The second session was held in very wet conditions and wasn’t as successful as he explained;

“We ran too little downforce in second qualifying and I struggled to get any confidence in the car. It looked at one point as if the rain would stop and if the track dried a bit that would have given me an advantage, but the weather is so unpredictable here and it actually started to rain harder and there wasn’t time to come into the pits and make a change. I will have my work cut out in the second race now as I will line up 11th on the grid.”

The first race was held in sunny conditions on Friday afternoon. Max’s excellent qualifying performance was cancelled out immediately though as he stalled his car as the lights went out. He got going at the back of the field but had been hit on the grid and had his left rear tyre punctured. What followed was an extraordinary race.

“I knew we would have a lot of grip at the start.” Max explained afterwards, “And I thought I had allowed for it, but even though I slipped the clutch, I still stalled. Someone clipped my rear wheel so when I got away I had a puncture and had to limp back round to the pits.”

Thankfully for Max a first corner incident had brought the safety car out so he was able to get a new wheel and tyre in the pits and get out again to catch up the back of the field for the restart.

“I knew that overtaking was possible at Spa and planned where to catch people in order to get a good enough tow up the long straights. I was mad with myself after stalling, but I was really determined to try and get in the points anyway. It turned out to be one of the most exciting drives I’ve ever had. I managed to overtake something like 10 cars through the race and I was told by the team how many points I was on for with each lap and when it got near the end I couldn’t believe how far up I had got.”

By the end of the race Max had got up to 8th place on the road, but because four of the cars in front of him were invitational entries, they did not score points in the championship. That meant Max finished 4th in the International series and picked up 10 points.

“I’m really surprised at the result to be honest. I still can’t believe that I stalled on the grid, had to pit for a new tyre and still scored points for 4th place – unbelievable.”

The start of Saturday’s race was delayed because of a heavy downpour just before the start and rain would arrive again at the end of the race, making conditions treacherous. Max started from 11th on the grid and like the majority of drivers had elected to start on slicks with the circuit wet, but rapidly drying.

He got away well and was up to 8th place after a couple of laps and catching the group in front. Looking for a way past was made difficult by a combination of track conditions and the fact that he had some extra downforce on the car following the heavy rain. He benefited from a couple of retirements, but couldn’t find a way through to make up any more places and so a 6th place finish was the result.

“It was quite frustrating at times because I didn’t have the straight line speed this time to tow past people.” Max said after the race. “When the rain came down again towards the end of the race it was really just a case of trying not to fall off, it was close between three of us at the end, and the cars in front went off on the last lap. I stayed on, but couldn’t get past them.”

“All in all I got some good points from this weekend when I think that I had to race from the back of the field in the first race and from 11th on the grid in the second. So 16 points from the two races is a result. I didn’t think that was on at one point.”

Max’s efforts lifted him a place in the overall points table and he is now the highest placed British driver in the International series