► My report of the 2025 British GP
► McLaren on top
► But where will Verstappen end up?
Max Verstappen cut a relaxed if not exhausted figure on Thursday, batting away constant questions about a move to Mercedes, whilst acknowledging an increasingly difficult championship fight.
‘It won’t be hard to do better than last week,’ he joked with me, referring to his DNF in Austria the week before. Chatting in a space high within Red Bull’s ‘Energy Station’ paddock hospitality, the Dutchman was mentally braced for a tough weekend.
Rumours he’ll take George Russell’s seat have been rife within the paddock but built to a crescendo at Silverstone. And the unwieldy Red Bull he has to drive right now only adds fuel to the flames.
‘Our car normally is good in the very high speed, so there are a few corners I think that we’ll be okay,’ he said on Thursday. ‘But there are some low-speed corners where we have been struggling,’ he warned. ‘It’ll be tough of course, to try to win it here, but we’ll see.’
Fast forward to Saturday, however, and it was Verstappen in pole position. On Friday he hinted at a possible strategy, suggesting a conservative set up: ‘Maybe you could sacrifice a bit [of high speed] for the lowest speed but again, it’s too early to say at the moment it, what is the right compromise,’ he said.
It turns out the answer was not to compromise at all – but to double-down on the high-speed stuff and trim the car to almost Monza-esque levels.
A banzai lap, a touch of tow and that super-low downforce setup saw Verstappen drag his car to the top spot on Saturday – ahead of both McLarens and both Ferraris. Those key rivals had looked relatively ominous all weekend, with Hamilton, Leclerc, Norris and Piastri all in the frame for pole. By Saturday afternoon, Verstappen had nutmugged them all.
It’s a narrative that’s developed throughout the last two years, with the four-times world champion seemingly jamming his car into positions the form guide says shouldn’t be possible. McLaren’s inability to always capitalise on its pure pace has kept Verstappen in touching distance.
Sunday, however, was where this narrative finally snapped. Red Bull’s aggressively dry setup was a Hail Mary for Saturday, but cost him severely on race day. After a miraculous start and opening few laps, Verstappen was soon reeled in by the McLaren drivers who both enjoyed clearly superior grip.
As the rain worsened it was possible to see – through the onboards and performance of his teammate Tsunoda – the sheer amount of concentration needed to keep the #1 Red Bull pointing in a straight line. Even then, one of F1’s wet-weather specialists couldn’t hold it together all the time, making several uncharacteristic mistakes – with the most costly being after the safety car restart.
The gap between the Red Bull and Mclaren is now so large, that even Verstappen can’t make the difference even in wet weather. With that in mind, this race felt like watershed of sorts – the Verstappen equivalent of Singapore 2012, when Hamilton’s McLaren retired from the lead – tipping him to sign with Mercedes. Has this tricky Silverstone race done the same for Verstappen?
Similar struggles at Ferrari
It was a similar story at Ferrari, who looked good on Friday and Saturday only to fall back during the race. Both Ferrari’s look unwieldy onboard – and especially trackside.
Through Village and the Loop both Ferraris looked far less compliant and fluid than the McLarens. When pushing the car would seem nervous and snappy, with Hamilton and Leclerc having trouble getting the car turned. Just eyeballing the cars, it looked like they settled on ‘waiting’ for the car to settle to car before turning, which was both safter and slower than the McLaren’s out front.
But the offs weren’t just at Village or the Loop – both Ferrari drivers had several offs, and when combined with some unusual strategy decisions, it was impressive Hamilton was even able to salvage 4th place.
Both Mercedes cars were relatively anonymous in the race, with Antonelli being taken out and eventually retired – and Russell retiring. After winning just a few weeks ago in Canada, it seems the Mercedes is back to square one. The teams from Brackley and Maranello still don’t seem to have a true grip on these regulations.
Lewis Hamilton has signed up for a project, but this is arguably the most challenging of his career. The problems at Ferrari seem as much about culture and decision-making as the car itself.
And what of McLaren? Storming out front a few laps from the start, it looked like Piastri’s to lose. Not only did he appear to have a pace advantage over Norris, but he also looked relatively stable in the tricky conditions. It was undone by a penalty which was deserved but seemed to go against precedents we’ve already seen: charged with erratic driving behind the safety car.
Particularly dangerous in the conditions, it was a bit of gamesmanship he probably didn’t need to employ, with Verstappen hardly a threat behind him in the long term. As a result, the Australian was given two penalty points and a 10 second penalty – effectively deciding the race.
It may have been a thriller on paper, but that 10 second penalty effectively neutralised the battle for the lead. Still, at least Hulkenberg got his first podium!