Max Verstappen was left surprised by the pace McLaren enjoyed after Lando Norris finished second to the Red Bull driver in the British Grand Prix.
Verstappen won his eighth race of the season by just under four seconds after a Safety Car in the final third of the race reduced it to a 13-lap sprint to the flag.
The Dutchman had started from pole, but a poor getaway saw him drop behind Norris by the opening corner.
He then ran second to the McLaren driver for the opening laps before taking the lead on Lap 5, holding it for the balance of the race.
“It wasn’t particularly straightforward,” Verstappen said of the race.
“I had a bad start, a lot of wheel spin. So I had to work my way up again to Lando.
“It took a few laps, then also took a few laps to cool down the tyres again in the lead because Lando came back at me again in the DRS.
“But then, yeah, once everything’s settled in we, lap after lap, could open up the gap to, I think at one point it was like nine seconds before the Safety Car came out.
“So I guess that was very positive.”
Verstappen was also challenged by Oscar Piastri in the other McLaren on the opening lap, having to defend into Brooklands and again into Copse.
The McLaren pair remained in touching distance of the race lead for much of the earlier stint.
“It was quite surprising to see that the McLaren was actually that quick, or Lando was that quick, over the whole stint,” Verstappen observed.
“Then, of course, because of the Safety Car, we had to make the decision what tyre to put on, the soft to the hard.
“We opted to go for the soft, which at the time I thought was right, but when I restarted it took only two or three laps, and then I realised that it was quite tricky to keep them under control with the temperatures.
“The gap, of course, stayed quite similar, but it wasn’t particularly nice to drive.
“Maybe we should have gone on the hard tyre, at least you could have pushed a l; ate bit harder over the whole stint,” he added.
“Maybe the first two, three laps are a bit more difficult but at least towards the end probably it was a bit faster.”
Verstappen now holds a 99-point advantage at the top of the drivers’ championship over team-mate Sergio Perez, who recovered from 15th on the grid to sixth.
As a team, Red Bull has won all 10 races this season to hold a 208-point advantage over Mercedes in the constructors’ championship.
Discussion about this post