Verstappen’s surprise win at Silverstone
Max Verstappen pulled off an unexpected victory in the oneoff 70th Anniversary Grand Prix at Silverstone yesterday.
The Red Bull Racing driver crossed the line a whopping 11.3 seconds clear of Lewis Hamilton, with pole-sitter Valtteri Bottas in 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.
Charles Leclerc finished fourth for Ferrari ahead of Red Bull’s 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.
After the race, Hamilton said: “That was a massive challenge, but congratulations to Red Bull. It was definitely unexpected to have the blistering as hardcore as that.”
Bottas said: “Very frustrating for me to finish third [from pole] ... It’s not ideal and I think that as a team we were sleeping at some points in the race. My strategy was far from ideal.”
Hamilton’s Mercedes team have been the team to beat this year and, when Bottas held off Hamilton after the first corner, it looked as though it would be a straight fight between the allblack machines.
But Verstappen, who moved ahead of Racing Point’s Nico Hulkenberg at the opening bend, remained in pursuit. Both Mercedes cars started on the medium rubber, with Verstappen on the more durable hards.
Verstappen sensed that the Mercedes cars were struggling and was soon hunting down Hamilton. At one stage, he was told to drop off and protect his tyres. “This is the only chance to beat Mercedes,” he said over the team radio. “I am not going to sit back like a grandma.”
He remained true to his word. Bottas pitted from the lead on Lap 13 with Hamilton following in for fresh rubber on the following lap. Verstappen took the lead and, when he came in for new tyres at the midway stage of the race, he left the pits just behind Bottas.
Verstappen took only a handful of corners to regain top spot after he resisted Bottas’ defence.
Both Verstappen and Bottas came in with 20 laps remaining for a second time, while Hamilton remained out on wearing rubber. On Lap 41 of 52, Hamilton pitted for fresh rubber.
Hamilton emerged out in fourth but the 35-year-old started to light up the time charts, posting the fastest lap of the race before overtaking Leclerc in third. He then set his sights on hunting down Bottas and, with two laps to run, he got his man around the outside of Brooklands corner.
As Verstappen cruised to the flag, Hulkenberg finished seventh, while Sebastian Vettel was outside the points in 12th following an opening-lap spin.