F1 | Max: “I had no pace, choosing the hard tyre was worth 2nd place”

Once again, as already seen during this season, Max Verstappen manages to get the best even when things don’t go the right way. The Dutchman at Silverstone conquers a precious second position, perhaps unexpected, despite the eve of a Grand Prix in which Red Bull was not considered the favorite for the victory.

Despite a qualifying session affected by damage to the floor that would have slowed down the reigning world champion’s single-seater by around three tenths, Max managed to grab a fourth fastest time, behind Norris, Hamilton and Russell.

And at the start of the race, he took advantage of a Norris who was more focused on overtaking Hamilton in the first corners, to get behind the two Mercedes. However, for Verstappen, the race did not prove to be the easiest due to the lack of grip: “Today we didn’t have the pace – he commented – At the beginning when it mattered I was losing positions. Then, at a certain point things went pretty badly”.

Yes, because Red Bull were certain that they would not finish the race beyond sixth or fifth place. And with Perez lapped, it would have been a relatively forgettable weekend. Instead, thanks to the right decisions made during a race conditioned by the arrival of the rain, Max’s Sunday takes another path, that of the podium and then, of the second place.

“We made the right decisions, switching from slicks to intermediates and then from intermediates to slicks again. We did it on the right lap,” he continued, “and then in the end the team’s choice to fit the Hard tyre instead of the soft also had an impact, this certainly helped me a lot. This took me to second place, it could have been much worse but we made the right choices and this took me to the podium.”

“When it started raining the first time I was already losing positions because I had no grip, I didn’t want to take too many risks while the others were attacking more. I tried to hold on without going off the track and it was really complicated. At a certain point the rain started to fall more intensely, and it was quite obvious that I had to put on the intermediates and make them last as long as possible. Then the sun came out, the track started to dry quickly and I started to feel comfortable with the intermediates but at a certain point you have to gamble, deciding to put on the slicks and everything worked well”, concludes Max. Ultimately, these Grands Prix with several winners play in his favour: he, at the other end of the standings, can afford to settle for the maximum possible…