Verstappen reflects on ‘very difficult’ race at Silverstone following recovery to P5 after spin

Max Verstappen has given his take on a “very difficult race” at the British Grand Prix, with the Red Bull driver admitting that he had “no pace” on an afternoon that saw him recover to P5 following a spin at the second Safety Car restart.

After lining up in pole position, Verstappen initially led before being overtaken by McLaren’s Oscar Piastri on Lap 8 of 52.

While a second Safety Car phase closed the gaps again – amid changing weather conditions – the Dutchman spun shortly after the restart, dropping him down the order.

From there Verstappen embarked on a recovery drive and crossed the line in fifth place, while Lando Norris took victory ahead of Piastri and Kick Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg.

“It was just a very difficult race for us, but even after that spin I had no pace,” the four-time World Champion conceded when reflecting on his race.

“I was just stuck with that group and it was just very difficult to drive, and naturally of course we knew that it was going to be difficult in the wet with that [low downforce] rear wing that we had on the car.

“But even then I think we were still struggling a lot, and even also in the last few laps on the slick tyres were quite a handful to drive.

“[It was] just very difficult. A few things to look at of course, but we were no match anyway with the McLarens, and on the other hand when we have a difficult day we try to of course collect the points. To see Nico on that podium, for me at least, it’s nice to see.”

In terms of what the approach would be going forward – after a weekend in which a strong Qualifying performance was followed by a tougher race day – Verstappen said: “Just go to the next one.

“We have nothing to lose, nothing to gain – we are not in the fight for the championships, so we tried to just… see every race as a one-off and try to maximise everything.”