“Very Easy to Underestimate”: Max Verstappen’s Craftsmanship Gets a Shoutout as British GP Turns Out to Be a Surprisingly Tough Outing

If someone were to say that Max Verstappen got a pole, took the fastest lap, and won the British GP, you would think it would’ve been a typical race weekend where the Dutchman dominated from start to finish. But the British GP wasn’t nearly as straightforward as some of his wins have been this year. He had to fight the wind, his tires, and a young Brit chasing his first win to bring the car home in first to achieve his 43rd career victory.

The hard work started as soon as the five lights went out, and after a bad start from Verstappen, Lando Norris in P2 overtook him for the lead going into Turn 1. And before he knew it, Oscar Piastri in P3 was right on his tail, challenging him for P2. But he held on, used his beast of an RB19 to his advantage, and passed Norris to retake the lead on Lap 5. From there on, it should’ve been his usual—increasing his gap to the field so much that he got a free pit stop. But that didn’t happen. 

Max Verstappen & Co.’s tire problems returned in Silverstone

Like in Canada, with the low track temperatures and Red Bull’s low degradation rate, Verstappen couldn’t get his tires in the right window to pull away. So till the Safety Car on Lap 33, he’d built a gap of only 10 seconds. After he pitted under the SC for soft tires and had to stay behind it for another five laps, getting his tires heated once racing resumed proved even more difficult.

In a YouTube live stream after the race, F1 journalist Peter Windsor appreciated the reigning world champion for his racecraft. He said, “It’s very easy to underestimate how good a job Max did today because the car was not in the same sort of sweet spot that it is usually. It was still very good, there’s a lot of very good things about the RB19, but Max actually had to do a lot more knife-edgy driving, very finger-tippy, just to make sure he got everything right.”

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Windsor concluded, saying how challenging it must’ve been to have Norris behind him throughout his soft-tire stint while the McLaren was on the hard tires that the MCL60 did a good job of heating up. Windsor said, “[Max made] no mistakes, right on the edge, bearing in mind that the tires weren’t 100% in their sweet spot zone as they normally would be.” Max had to overcome a lot of difficulties the RB19 posed, but he did it like the champion he is and handed Red Bull another record-equaling win.

Max Verstappen helped Red Bull equal McLaren’s long-standing record

Max knew the win wasn’t easy, considering the weather conditions in Silverstone, and said so himself during the post-race interview, stating, “Very happy that we won again. 11 wins in a row for the team, I think that’s pretty incredible. But it wasn’t straightforward today.” Regardless, his win helped Red Bull equal McLaren’s 1988 record of winning 11 races in a row. Red Bull has won all 10 races this season, and counting last year’s finale in Abu Dhabi, the British GP was it’s eleventh.

This was also the first time Verstappen won the British GP, having previously only won the 70th Anniversary GP at Silverstone in 2020. With this win, he’s made it six wins in a row, another feat only a handful of drivers—including Sebastian Vettel and Nico Rosberg—have achieved.

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The British GP was a big win for Red Bull and Verstappen, and just like many of his other wins, he found a way to make it memorable.