06/07/2025 12:30
Max Verstappen remarkably revealed that a complaint he made to Red
Bull on the opening day of the British Grand Prix was that his RB21
was "understeering to the moon". Not for the first time this
season, Red Bull made major overnight changes ahead of third
practice and qualifying, which proved to work at Silverstone. The
Dutchman produced a blistering final qualifying lap to secure pole
position, matching Sebastian Vettel's 44 poles for the Milton
Keynes-based outfit. Verstappen ran a very low downforce set-up
which gave him staggering straight line speed, whilst he wrestled
his car through the high-speed corners. Asked to explain why Red
Bull opted for a low downforce set-up, Verstappen told media
including RacingNews365 : "We looked a bit slow yesterday on the
other wing. Plus, I was just understeering to the moon. "So, I had
to try and reduce a bit that understeer, and it seemed to work. It
is light on downforce for sure. "You can see that, I guess. But it
seemed to hold on and that's why we decided to stick with it. We'll
see what we get from it tomorrow in the race." The overnight
changes and Verstappen's qualifying performance handed the
four-time world champion a great chance at victory; however, it
could be a six-driver fight for the win. Verstappen, both McLarens
and both Ferraris demonstrated very similar long runs across the
three practice sessions, whilst George Russell threw himself into
contention by qualifying in a shock fourth. "Well, I guess
naturally, I have everyone behind so I have to look behind me and
see what will happen," added Verstappen, when asked where he will
be looking when the lights go out. "But for sure, I can see a
proper battle. Even in the long runs, there were a lot of cars that
were quick. Even in qualifying, it was all quite tight. "Like
Oscar said, quite different lap time gains – some quick on the
straight, some quick in the corners – and I think it's just going
to depend on who can keep their tyres alive in the stint."
