Verstappen piles on tyre pressure to stun Hamilton with surprise win
MAX Verstappen was delighted to see Red Bull take their first genuine opportunity to beat Mercedes after winning Formula One’s 70th Anniversary Grand Prix.
The Red Bull driver struck the sweet spot at Silverstone to cross the line 11.3 seconds clear of Lewis Hamilton, with Valtteri Bottas third.
Mercedes had been expected to cruise to their fifth win from as many rounds this season.
But both Hamilton and Bottas struggled with their tyres to clear the way for Verstappen to take an unlikely win.
Indeed, the Dutchman had been a 12/1 outsider to take the chequered flag ahead of Sunday’s race.
Charles Leclerc finished fourth for Ferrari ahead of Alexander Albon. Racing Point’s Lance Stroll was sixth. Hamilton will head to next week’s Spanish Grand Prix with a 30-point championship lead over Verstappen.
Verstappen benefitted from a qualifying masterstroke from Red Bull to ensure he started the race on the more durable hard tyres, which in the Silverstone heat proved the right tyre to be on, and converted the superior strategy to pass both Bottas and Hamilton and cruise towards the first non-mercedes victory of the 2020 season.
In contrast, both Hamilton and Bottas struggled to manage their tyres as they constantly had to look after blisters on their Pirellis no matter which compound they tried, which meant that neither had the pace to challenge Verstappen once he hit the front.
At one stage early in the race, Verstappen was told to ease back from fighting with Hamilton in order to manage his tyres, which prompted a typically dismissive response from the young driver.
“This is the only chance of being close to the Mercedes, I’m not just sitting behind like a grandma!” Verstappen snapped back.
But once the jubilation of victory set in, Verstappen was able to explain why he was so determined to take the fight to the two Mercedes, having spent much of this season watching them power away into the distance.
“We so far (this season) didn’t really have an opportunity in all the races to push them, and I could see we were pushing them,” Verstappen said.
“So I tried to put the pressure on. They had to pit, and from then onwards, I could do my own pace, and basically built that advantage to the end.”
Despite the ease with which Verstappen was able to claim victory, the triumph still came as a surprise at a track that was expected to play into the hands of Mercedes.
Verstappen started the race at odds as long as 12/1 to emerge victorious, such was Red Bull’s underdog status, but that only went to make the win sweeter for Verstappen.
“I didn’t see it coming,” he added. “But you after the first stint, it seemed like we were really good on tyres. Of course that is a question mark, how Mercedes is going to go on the hard tyre.
“We had a lot of pace in the car, I didn’t really have a lot of tyre issues at all. We just kept pushing, and [it’s] an incredible result of course to win here.
“We had a great day. I think everything worked out well, and we had the right strategy. Everything was running smoothly. I was incredibly happy to win.”
Hamilton was not too disappointed with second place, given at one stage he was running down in fourth with a handful
even of laps to go after making a late second pit stop. As far as damage limitation goes, Hamilton’s 30-point championship lead remains intact as the reigning champion heads for Barcelona next weekend, with a late overtake on Bottas securing a second-place finish and limiting the damage done.
“It was a massive challenge,” a relieved Hamilton said.
“Congrats to the Red Bull team and to Max. They didn’t have the problems we had today.
“It was definitely unexpected to have the blistering as hardcode as we experienced - I was nervous the tyre was going to explode — but I am grateful I managed to progress and get through the race.”
Bottas was not so relieved though, having lost two places from pole position and passed on the road by both Verstappen and Hamilton as he struggled on old tyres.
“Very frustrating starting from pole and finishing third is not ideal,” Bottas said. “I think as a team we were sleeping at some point when Max managed to get ahead of us. Our strategy was far from ideal, so lots to learn from today.
“I was trying and there was a chance to keep up with Max but as soon as I started to push too much at the end, the tyres just fell apart. Lots of blistering in the tyres for us today and you can see Red Bull had none so they clearly had an edge.”
How they finished: 1 Max Verstappen (Ned) Red Bull 1:19:41.993, 2 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) Mercedes GP 1:19:53.319, 3 Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Mercedes GP 1:20:01.224, 4 Charles Leclerc (Mon) Ferrari 1:20:11.282, 5 Alexander Albon (Tha) Red Bull 1:20:21.139, 6 Lance Stroll (Can) Racing Point 1:20:24.531, 7 Nico Hulkenburg (Ger) Racing Point 1:20:37.944, 8 Esteban Ocon (Fra) Renault 1:20:46.766, 9 Lando Norris (Gbr) Mclaren 1:20:47.537, 10 Daniil Kvyat (Rus) Scuderia Alphatauri 1:20:51.662, 11 Pierre Gasly (Fra) Scuderia Alphatauri
1:20:52.635, 12 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Ferrari 1:20:55.363, 13 Carlos Sainz (Spa) Mclaren 1:20:56.063, 14 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Renault at 51 laps, 15 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Alfa Romeo Racing at 51 laps, 16 Romain Grosjean (Fra) Haas F1 at 51 laps, 17 Antonio Giovinazzi (Ita) Alfa Romeo Racing at 51 laps, 18 George Russell (Gbr) Williams at 51 laps, 19 Nicholas Latifi (Can) Williams at 51 laps
Not classified: Kevin Magnussen (Den) Haas F1 41 laps
World Championship Standings Drivers: 1 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) Mercedes GP 107pts, 2 Max Verstappen (Ned) Red Bull 77, 3 Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Mercedes GP 73, 4 Charles Leclerc (Mon) Ferrari 45, 5 Lando Norris (Gbr) Mclaren 38, 6 Alexander Albon (Tha) Red Bull 36, 7 Lance Stroll (Can) Racing Point 28, 8 Sergio Perez (Mex) Racing Point 22, 9 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Renault 20, 10 Esteban Ocon (Fra) Renault 16, 11 Carlos Sainz (Spa) Mclaren 15, 12 Pierre Gasly (Fra) Scuderia Alphatauri 12, 13 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Ferrari 10, 14 Nico Hulkenburg (Ger) Racing Point 6, 15 Antonio Giovinazzi (Ita) Alfa Romeo Racing 2, 16 Daniil Kvyat (Rus) Scuderia Alphatauri 2, 17 Kevin Magnussen (Den) Haas F1 1, 18 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Alfa Romeo Racing 0, 19 Nicholas Latifi (Can) Williams 0, 20 George Russell (Gbr) Williams 0, 21 Romain Grosjean (Fra) Haas F1 0
Manufacturers: 1 Mercedes-amg Petronas F1 Team 180pts, 2 Aston Martin Red Bull Racing 113, 3 Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow 55, 4 Mclarenf1 Team 53, 5 Bwtracing Point F1 Team 41, 6 Renault DP World F1 Team 36, 7 Scuderia Alphatauri Honda 14, 8 Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen 2, 9 Haas F1 F1 Team 1, 10 Williams Racing