That wasn’t Max Verstappen’s day. The four -time world champion experienced a race in Silverstone for forgetting, but still operating with fifth place. “In retrospect, it was probably the best that we could achieve under these circumstances with everything that happened in the race,” he says.
The race actually started for him. Verstappen converted his pole position into the lead and seemed to have put the intermediate on the right horse because the drivers who pokered with slicks at the start and fell back.
Nevertheless, he had problems keeping the McLaren behind him. “From round one it was very difficult,” he says. “The balance in the car was extremely difficult to find between high-speed and low speed curves. I never got a good balance.”
“We also broken down the tires too much on the Inters – especially compared to McLaren, who were again at a completely different level,” said Verstappen, who had to let both Oscar Piatri and Lando Norris go, but at least overtaken Norris because of a better pit stop.
Heck-wing choice does not help
It showed: Red Bull’s choice of the flat rear wing did not pay off on Sunday. The team had driven with little downforce on Saturday and had to pay in the race. The more difficult the conditions became, the more Verstappen had to struggle with his car. He slipped on the track several times and also got next to the route.
“There are some very fast and medium -fast curves here and if you don’t have enough contact pressure on the car, it all makes it even more complicated,” says team boss Christian Horner.
“The rear wing has definitely made things much more complicated,” confirms Verstappen. “The weather forecast simply changed overnight. Until yesterday it was said that the weather would get better – maybe some rain in the morning, but then dry. And then the last night suddenly developed into heavy rain.”
Stella: Isn’t just on the rear wing
McLaren team boss Andrea Stella, on the other hand, does not believe that the rear wing alone is a reason whether you perform better or worse in the wet. “It’s also about how to use the tires, how to keep the tire temperatures stable.”
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“If you look at our pace at certain times – we were more than a second faster – then it was certainly not only on the rear wing. It has a lot more to do with how to use the tires,” said the team boss.
But McLaren was not an opponent for Verstappen on Sunday. He believes that McLaren would have been difficult to beat even in a dry race, but in the wet he had no chance with his set-up. “But even if we had had a little more output – we couldn’t have struggled against McLaren today.”
Verpappen with a rotary at Safety car restart
And then came the crucial moment when the day of the day completely went down the stream: at the Safety Car Rest in round 21, the Dutch turned out of the Stowe curve when Piatri just put on the pace, and fell back to ninth place.
Verstappen explains: “I just tried to go on the gas, but the car was already difficult to drive. I tried to find a good rhythm, but it just caught me on cold tires.”
Shortly before there had been a controversial scene with Piatri when it had slowed down on the hangar line and was caught on the wrong foot and passed the McLaren-Piatri was also occupied with a ten-second penalty. But his turner had nothing to do with it, Verstappen.
After that, the world champion stuck in midfield and had to fight with cars like Williams and Aston Martin, with which he surprisingly severely. “I didn’t really have the pace to get forward,” he quarrels. “That was a bit worrying.”
But there were also positive things on Sunday, he emphasizes: “We made the right decisions, remained calm and stayed outside as long as possible.” So in the end he was able to get fifth place.
Verstappen: I don’t care about bad day now
But he actually doesn’t interest him big. In an interview with Sky after the race, this became clear. How frustrating a race as today is asked. His answer: “It is part of it. We don’t fight for the championship anyway, but it doesn’t matter.”
Reporter Sandra Baumgartner replies that it doesn’t matter, but Verstappen interrupts: “For me now.”
Ex-pilot Ralf Schumacher can understand this: “The car was simply not optimal for these conditions,” he says. “He always has to make a compromise and he somehow makes it with his talent. But the car is just too slow. And fighting windmills as a driver is not fun.”
“His answers were short, but still very gallant for the multiple world champion, who is so disappointed,” said the German, who believes that he mentally “still removed a bit”, even if Saturday went well. “It hurts him, but I think he has to realize more and more that the car is simply not where it should be.”
Or to express it in Verstappen’s words: “The upgrades work, but that’s not enough. And we know.”