Max’s first ever races at the Hungaroring near Budapest produced encouraging pace for the 19 year-old, but traffic in qualifying and problems at the starts limited his results……

17th and 16th place finishes in the feature and sprint races respectively were maybe not what Max had hoped for in the latest rounds of the GP2 championship, but after starting Saturday’s first race at the back of the 24 car field, it was as much as could be achieved, especially as overtaking around the tight Hungaroring circuit is virtually impossible.

With the qualifying session so vital here, Max knew he had to produce a good lap and was encouraged by a great run on his first set of new tyres, lapping his Ocean Racing Technology car within a second of pole to set the 16th fastest time. Unfortunately after his pit stop for a second set of new tyres he never got another clear lap, with either slow traffic or yellow flags preventing him from improving. He was disappointed to end the session down in 23rd place, knowing he could have been a lot higher.

“I just didn’t get a clear lap on my second set of tyres when the circuit had become a lot quicker.” He explained. “I think realistically I could have got into the top 15, but starting the race on the 12th row is going to be tough tomorrow.”

It was made even harder when his clutch overheated on the grid and he had to make a very tentative start away from the lights. Accidents and attrition through the long, one hour race enabled Max to bring his car home in 17th place and what was encouraging was his pace in the middle of the race, lapping close to the leaders’ lap times at a speed that would have been comfortably inside the top ten.

Sunday morning’s sprint race again gave Max problems at the start and after a slow getaway he found himself at the back of the field. He had a race long battle with two other drivers, entertaining the spectators with some side by side battling, but the close racing took its toll on his tyres and the degradation at the end of the race meant he could only improve to 16th place.

“I didn’t get a good start and that dropped me back and meant I was racing with slower cars, but you just can’t overtake very easily here.” He said. “Your pace is effectively limited by the cars speed in front and although I could battle with them for a while, I was sliding around a lot and that hurt my tyres, so not a great result. I think there have been some positives though this weekend, I was very happy with my pace in Saturday’s feature race, and I’ve definitely learnt the Hungaroring track now, which I had never seen before. At least that won’t be a problem next time out at Spa. I’ve raced there a few times and know the circuit very well, so I’m looking forward to those races.”

The Spa event, supporting the Belgian Grand Prix takes place in four weeks time on 28th and 29th August.