Verstappen: As the race progressed, the pace issues started

Max Verstappen finished second at Silverstone, despite a lack of pace in the opening stint of the race. But the Red Bull Racing driver reaffirmed his championship class and managed to keep losses to a minimum in difficult circumstances…

Q: This race has been quite unusual for you. At first it seemed like your chances of success were slim, but in the end you finished just 1.4 seconds behind the winner. Share details…
Max Verstappen: Yes, the start of the race was not so good. I want to say I tried to keep up, but the tires simply lost their effectiveness. The tires overheated and the problems started due to lack of grip.

That’s why Lando Norris was ahead of me, and then Oscar Piastri. It started to rain and I didn’t want to take too many risks because the driving experience wasn’t the most comfortable. Then I thought: “We just have to keep our position and try to hold on somehow.”

That’s exactly what I did. At one point the situation escalated, when even Carlos Sainz started to overtake me. I started to think that it wasn’t going well at all. However, we just stayed on the track and made the right decisions about when to switch from slicks to intermediate tyres, and from there back to slicks. That’s why I remained one of the contenders for the win.

I mean, we made the right decisions at the right times. Absolutely, we also made the right decision at the end of the race when we decided to put on hard tyres. This allowed us to attack, because the Medium tyres were not good enough in our case. I attacked with full power until the finish, and we took 2nd place.

Although there was a moment when it looked like we would rather finish fifth or even sixth, on a day when we weren’t fast enough we still managed to take 2nd place and I’m happy with that.

Q: Why weren’t you fast enough?
Max Verstappen: We just didn’t have the pace. But I don’t know what decisions were made and how those in front of me behaved. Of course, all this still needs to be analyzed.

Q: How did you manage to make the right decisions at the right moments? Were you the one making them, or did you act together with your race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase?
MaxVerstappen: He and I are constantly talking about something, you know? He’s watching the weather radar and sharing incoming information as much as possible. And of course, if at some point I feel like I can’t stay on slicks anymore, or I think it’s time to change to intermediate tyres, then I have to call on the radio that I’m going to the pits. That’s exactly how we did it. The same thing happened later when it was necessary to change from intermediate tyres to slicks.

Of course, sometimes the team can help you make a decision when someone is already on slicks. But still, the sun had come out again and the track dried out quite quickly, even after the rain that had made it wet all those days, so I decided to take the risk. Although I was not 100% sure that we had chosen the right circle to put slicks on. But we made this decision and it turned out to be right.

Q: In previous years, the fast corners at Silverstone have generally suited the Red Bull cars. How concerned are you that you have had so many difficulties during the race?
Max Verstappen: In one fast lap it wasn’t so bad. I think the pace issues started as the race went on. He was really missed. But I don’t know how bad the rubber wear was on the rivals’ cars. We’ve got to figure all that out, of course.

Q: Finally, an easier question: on Wednesday night, the teams of the Netherlands and England will meet in the semi-final of the European Football Championship. Will you be watching and are you ready to say goodbye to your national team?
MaxVerstappen: Yes, of course I will watch this match. I always send text messages to Virgil van Dijk, the captain of our national team, sometimes before the match, sometimes after. But honestly, there is no need to say anything to our players. Agreed, they know much better than I do how to prepare for such matches and how to train.

Of course I hope our team will win, and I also hope the game will be very interesting. And of course it would be great if the Dutch team reaches the final.