Max Verstappen rued his setup choices after the British GP, after a pole position only translated into fifth place at the chequered flag.
Believing a dry race was in prospect, Max Verstappen opted to strip downforce off his car in a bid to keep the two McLarens behind him.
Starting from pole position, he initially held the lead into the first corner, and led the opening laps. However, as the weather began to change, the Red Bull began to struggle, with Oscar Piastri taking the lead.
After several wide moments, Verstappen prepared for the race to restart following a Safety Car period. Piastri braked suddenly, impacting the Dutchman’s ability to warm his tyres. He then spun, plummeting down to 11th.
Taking advantage of the changeable weather and utilising his experience, Verstappen recovered to fifth at the chequered flag.
Speaking to Sky Sports after the race, Verstappen admitted fifth place was the best he could hope for at the British GP.
“Probably not ideal, of course, in these kind of conditions, but yeah, we opted for that,” he said. “Honestly, I never thought it was going to be so wet today, but I think the weather forecast overnight changed, yeah, a little bit too much and not in our favour.
“So every time, I think we were just a bit low on downforce and I couldn’t balance it out between the high speed and the low speed with the tools that we had in the car, and that made it extremely difficult all the time.
Max Verstappen reflects on costly spin at British GP
The four-time world champion was open about his spin, and his initial struggle to move up through the order.
“Of course, I had my moment, but even after that, I recovered the spin and I continued and I had no pace. I was just stuck with these people around me.
“Then again, we did the right thing though, with the pit stop and staying out a bit on the inters. All the calls were correct, but we just simply lacked quite a bit of pace.”
Commenting on the rain that added so much unpredicability to the British GP, Max Verstappen said he did not expect weather to be so challenging.
“Last night before I went to bed, I looked, you keep an eye on it, but last night before I went to bed, it suddenly really started to ramp up and I’m like, this is not good. And then when I woke up, it became even worse.”
“And then you’re locked in, you cannot change the car. That’s what you’re committed to and you know that then it’s going to be difficult, but that’s racing as well.
Verstappen admitted his disatisfaction, but looked forward to racing in Spa.
“I mean, we’ll never be happy with it. But yeah, we just take it. I mean, it’s less painful when you are in the position that I’m in, right? So we just analyse that.
“Yesterday at least was positive for us and then we just move on to Spa and try to have a good one. Silverstone is good too, but Spa is also really nice.
