Max second in British Grand Prix: “It was amazing!”

Published on 10 July 2016 by Mike Motilall

Max Verstappen took home a beautiful second place finish to the British Grand Prix. In a race that got underway under safety car condition, due to the wet weather, Max was able to quite match the Mercedes men. This earned him his third podium finish in his Formula 1-career. Lewis Hamilton scored a hattrick by being victorious for the third time in a row in his home country. Nico Rosberg finished in second but was handed a 10 seconds time-penalty several hours after the race. This moves Verstappen up to being the first runner up and drops Rosberg down to third. Ricciardo was the fourth fastest.

Just after the finish, Max tells his team on the radio: “It was a very interesting race. We were able to challenge Mercedes and we had a good race pace. Thank you for a great car!” On the podium, Max has more words to share: “It was amazing”, says a huge smiling Max during the podium interview. “Look at the crowd, their support is great.”

“The race was very exciting and very tricky in the beginning. The first stint on the intermediates went very well and I was able to overtake Rosberg and even gaining on Hamilton. I maybe changed one lap too late to the dry tyres but from then on I was driving my own race. Unfortunately Rosberg was able to overtake me again, but I still had a good race pace. I still had the top two in my sights. To be on the podium again, I am super happy with that. I think this was the maximum we could do today. I would like to thank my team for giving me such a great car. They deserve all the credit”, Max concludes.

Just before the start of the race, the heavens open up. A big shower ensures the race will get underway under safety car condition. This means every driver will have to start on the wet tyre. During the parade lap, it stopped raining and the sun even starts to shine. The track dries up quickly and after five laps, the pack is let loose. Immediately many drivers head in to change to the intermediate tyres. The front runners, including Max, stay out and do some more laps on their wet tyres.

On lap seven, Pascal Wehrlein spins and gets off track prompting a virtual safety car situation. Max seizes the opportunity to switch to the intermediates and gets back on track in third, behind the leader Hamilton and Nico Rosberg in P2. On lap eleven Bottas spins in his Williams and loses a handful of positions but is able to continue on. He is fast closing in on Nico Rosberg. On the radio, the Dutchman is heard saying: “The track is getting drier. Not dry enough for slicks though, but that moment is close.”

Max is close on Rosberg’s tail and exiting Backetts, he overtakes the German spectacularly from the outside on lap sixteen. Vettel is the first who dares to change to the dry tyres. On lap 18, the leaders also pit. Max is the only one to pit one lap later to the medium tyres. He goes wide entering turn one on lap 22, and without losing too much time, he continues on and is still in P2.

It is an understatement saying that the conditions in turn one are very tricky, when, not much later, Vettel, Alonso and Sainz all spin. And every one of them is able to continue on without incidents. Haryanto is not so fortunate and is unable to get out of the gravel trap. The leading Hamilton and Verstappen also briefly venture out off track. Rosberg is by now closing in on Verstappen’s RB12. Lap after lap, he has been faster than the Mercedes, but on lap 38, Rosberg still gets the better of him. He is overtaken in Stowe corner.

In the closing stages of the race, Rosberg suddenly runs into a problem with his gear box. He is told by the team not to use the seventh gear anymore. Verstappen is able to get closer to Rosberg, but is unfortunately not able to setup an overtake maneuver. After the race, Rosberg is handed a 10 seconds time-penalty for breaching radio rules. This drops the German down one spot in the final results, behind of Verstappen.

At the front, it is Lewis Hamilton who strikes again. For the third time in a row, he wins his home Grand Prix ahead of Nico Rosberg and the Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo in third and fourth. Ferrari ran a very disappointing race. Raikkonen finishes in fifth and Vettel a mere ninth. This puts Red Bull six points shy of Ferrari in the constructor standings.

British Grand Prix - Silverstone - Sunday 10 July

RACE RESULTS

01 44 Lewis Hamilton      Mercedes                   	52 1:34:55.831
02  6 Nico Rosberg        Mercedes                   	52 +6.911s 
03 33 Max Verstappen      Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer  	52 +8.250s
04  3 Daniel Ricciardo    Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer  	52 +26.211s
05  7 Kimi Räikkönen      Ferrari                    	52 +69.743s
06 11 Sergio Perez        Force India Mercedes       	52 +76.941s
07 27 Nico Hulkenberg     Force India Mercedes       	52 +77.712s
08 55 Carlos Sainz        Toro Rosso Ferrari         	52 +85.858s
09  5 Sebastian Vettel    Ferrari                    	52 +91.654s
10 26 Daniil Kvyat        Toro Rosso Ferrari         	52 +92.600s
11 19 Felipe Massa        Williams Mercedes          	51 +1 lap
12 22 Jenson Button       McLaren Honda              	51 +1 lap
13 14 Fernando Alonso     McLaren Honda              	51 +1 lap
14 77 Valtteri Bottas     Williams Mercedes          	51 +1 lap
15 12 Felipe Nasr         Sauber Ferrari             	51 +1 lap
16 21 Esteban Gutierrez   Haas Ferrari               	51 +1 lap
17 20 Kevin Magnussen     Renault                    	49 DNF
NC 30 Jolyon Palmer       Renault                    	37 DNF
NC 88 Rio Haryanto        MRT Mercedes               	24 DNF
NC  8 Romain Grosjean     Haas Ferrari               	17 DNF
NC  9 Marcus Ericsson     Sauber Ferrari             	11 DNF
NC 94 Pascal Wehrlein     MRT Mercedes               	6  DNF