05/07/2025 17:50
Max Verstappen revealed that it was a major challenge to carry
speed through the incredibly fast corners at Silverstone, en route
to delivering Red Bull a "boost" with British Grand Prix pole. The
Dutchman denied the British drivers and Oscar Piastri pole position
courtesy of a sublime final lap in qualifying, which demoted the
championship leader to second. Verstappen had been the quickest
driver in Q1 but looked out of the fight for pole after his first
Q3 lap, following a complaint to Red Bull that his car was
"difficult" to drive. However, the four-time world champion
mastered the blustery conditions to ace his final lap, securing him
pole. "Yeah, it was tricky out there with the wind throughout all
of qualifying," assessed Verstappen. "Q1, Q2, Q3, [the wind] was
all shifting around a bit, yeah, a bit different. "Then around here
with these cars, it's extremely sensitive to it, so, yeah, just
trying to tidy it up throughout the whole qualifying. And yeah,
that final lap was good enough. "But, yeah, it was proper. I mean,
this is a proper track in qualifying, when you have to go flat out
in all these corners. Yeah, you have to be really committed. And
that's really enjoyable." Following a poor opening day to the
British GP, Red Bull made overnight changes to Verstappen's RB21
which saw it fitted with a low downforce set-up for the race,
rather than qualifying. It made the 27-year-old incredibly quick
along the straights but caused his car to be a huge handful through
the high0speed corners. When asked if the trimmed downforce set-up
was actually done with the race in mind, Verstappen answered:
"Yeah, exactly. We're quite quick on the straight, which, of
course, is not that easy in the high speed corners to manage, but
we did today, luckily. "Of course, we have to wait and see what
tomorrow will do if there's a bit of rain around or not. But I'm
happy, of course, with our qualifying. It's a big boost for the
team as well. And yeah, just excited to go racing now tomorrow."
