The run that Max Verstappen and Oracle Red Bull Racing are on is nothing short of remarkable.
Starting from the pole position at Silverstone Circuit, Verstappen outlasted a difficult start and late-race safety car to claim his sixth consecutive victory in the Formula One season.
“Of course, very happy that we won again,” said Verstappen. “I mean, 11 wins in a row for the team, I think that’s pretty incredible, but it wasn’t straightforward today.
“I was doing a bit of drifting on Thursday with marketing, and it felt like I was doing that also in the start, which wasn’t very good – it was very bad. We’ll look into that, because I think the last few starts were actually a lot better, and today wasn’t that great,” Verstappen continued.
“But at least it made it a bit more exciting, I had to push for it. Lando didn’t really put up a fight, he was very nice to me, but then he actually came back again in the DRS, so he had a lot of pace today – he did very well today.”
The 25-year-old Dutchmen got jumped by McLaren’s Lando Norris at the start of the British Grand Prix with rookie Oscar Piastri in tow. Despite getting bumped to second, Verstappen quickly chased down Norris, making the pass for the lead again on lap five.
Drama came late in the event when Haas F-1’s Kevin Magnussen came to a stop on the track, forcing the safety car to be deployed.
While Verstappen and the majority of front runners pit for soft compound tires, Norris elected for hard compound tires. On the ensuing restart, Norris had to defend hard against fellow hometown hero Lewis Hamilton for position.
While the two British drivers fought for second, Verstappen scooted away to win by 3.798 seconds at the checkered flag.
Norris hung on to second, followed by Hamilton to complete the podium.
“The safety car came at a beneficial moment for us but ultimately, that was the plan starting on the Medium tire,” Hamilton said. “We wanted to go long, and we did; it came at the right time, and we made some gains.
“For us to get on the podium is huge. It’s been an up-and-down season and we’ve still got a lot of work to do with our car. We’ve got strengths with it, particularly our long run. George (Russell) had a great stint on the soft tire and mine on the medium was really good too. As soon as we can improve the rear end we will be on our way. We just need to hold on to the good bits and add a few others.”
Piastri managed to hold onto fourth, his best result of the season, while Mercedes’ George Russell rounded out the top five.
It was a stellar drive from Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, who vaulted from 15th on the grid to claim sixth position.
Despite a spirited battle late, Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso hung onto seventh, with Alex Albon right behind in eighth.
The Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz ended their day in the points in ninth and tenth, respectively.
American rookie Logan Sargeant scored his best career finish in F-1, narrowly missing out on points in 11th.