Silverstone, United Kingdom: Meanwhile, Sergio Pérez charged his way to a sixth-placed finish after starting from 15th on the grid.
The Dutchman’s victory secured the 50th win for the partnership between Mobil 1 and Oracle Red Bull Racing, which began with Daniel Ricciardo’s win at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in 2017.
It was Max’s eighth victory of the season, and his sixth in a row. The win also handed the Team their 11th victory in a row, stretching back to last year’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. A total that now ties the Team with McLaren for most consecutive wins in the history of the sport.
When the lights went out, McLaren’s Lando Norris was quickest off the line and overtook Max heading into the first corner. The second McLaren of Oscar Piastri remained in third ahead of the Ferrari’s Leclerc. Checo, starting from 15th, lost a place but soon passed Williams’ Logan Sargent to regain his starting position.
Max demonstrated his racing intelligence and stayed patient for his opportunity over the opening laps. With the advantage of DRS, once enabled, Max began to close in on Norris. On lap 5, he opened his rear wing and roared past the leading McLaren as they went into Brooklands to take the lead.
Further back Checo was steadily powering his way up the order and, after passing Haas’ Nico Hülkenberg and AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda, on lap 13 he swept past Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll to sit on the cusp of the top 10. 20 seconds off the lead, Checo was only a second behind the Williams of Alex Albon. By the end of lap 17, the Mexican made his way up into the points positions and took 10th using DRS down the Hangar Straight.
By the halfway point in the race, Max led Norris by 7.6 seconds, with Piastri still in third. Checo had moved up into eighth, and as others ahead of him pitted for fresh tyres, decided to come into the pits on lap 29 for soft compound tyres.
He rejoined the track in P13 behind Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll. Piastri too, decided it was time for new tyres and opted for a set of hard tyres before rejoining in P6.
The shape of the race changed on lap 33, however, as the Virtual Safety Car was deployed ahead of the full Safety Car being released a lap later as Haas’ Kevin Magnussen came to a halt on the Wellington Straight. With flames coming from the back of his car, marshall’s needed to recover the car before the race could resume.
Max pitted and like his team-mate, he bolted on a set of soft tyres. The incident triggered a rush into the pits for the other driver’s who hadn’t stopped already.
Behind the Safety Car, Max led hard-tyre runner Norris, with Hamilton now third on softs ahead of Piastri, also on hard tyres, and Russell on a set of mediums. Fernando Alonso held sixth ahead of Sainz, and Checo found himself in eighth place once more.
On lap 38, the Safety Car left the track after which Max controlled the restart beautifully to create a gap between himself and the chasing pack. Norris got embroiled in a furious battle with Hamilton for P2, which allowed the champion to swiftly build a lead and with 10 laps remaining the Dutchman was more than three seconds clear.
Meanwhile, Checo put heavy pressure on Sainz and on lap 44, the Mexican pounced into the Vale chicane. He went wheel-to-wheel with the Ferrari through the first part but drew ahead on the exit and passed the Ferrari through Club to take seventh place.
Checo’s next target was the Aston Martin of Alonso. On lap 46 he got past the through Stowe in a valiant effort which saw Checo settle into sixth position for the final remaining laps.
After 52 laps, Max took the chequered flag for the eighth time this season. As well as being Max’s first British Grand Prix win, the victory was the Team’s first at the British Grand Prix since Mark Webber won in 2012.
Taking the chequered flag yet for already the eighth time this season, Max Verstappen said, “I’m very happy that we’ve won here again, 11 wins in a row for the Team is pretty incredible, the whole Team can be proud of that.
“It definitely wasn’t straightforward today though, we had a bad start which made it more exciting for the fans, but we definitely need to look into that improve on it.
“Lando and Oscar were super quick at the start so it took a few laps to pass them and to start to pull a gap. The competitors behind us were pushing hard and closing the gap so we need to try and find a little bit more. Overall though, a very nice Team win and hopefully we can carry the form to Budapest!”
After his surge through the field to a sixth placed finish, Sergio Pérez said, “I gave it my all today but I was expecting a bit more. We had a bad start and then I got stuck with Esteban Ocon, had to go wide and ended up losing a few positions at the start. From there on I made progress slowly and recovered a few places, but it took me longer to come through the field than I would have liked.
“We also pitted a few laps before the safety car which was unfortunate. Tomorrow, I am going to be working with the Team in the simulator. We have some ideas on what we can improve on and I am confident that this will help us work through it.
“I have full support from the team, I’m mentally very strong and I know that I will overcome these issues and turn around my season. The pace is there and I can still get back to where I should be. I am looking forward to Hungary and getting back on good form.”
Commenting on the team’s performance, Christian Horner said, “The first British GP win for the Team since 2012, Max’s second win at Silverstone and our 11th win in a row makes this a very special victory; but not without its challenges.
“We had expected it to be a medium hard race but with the performance of George on the softs, we started to consider our strategy. Then with the safety car in the final quarter, we felt that the soft tyre would give Max the best opportunity to break the DRS effect and he very quickly put 2 seconds between himself and the pack. From there it was a case of managing the rest of the race and once again, Max more than rose to the occasion.
“Equally, Checo found fine form today. Some of his moves in the race exemplify exactly how skilful he is as a driver, particularly on Carlos into Stowe and his pace in the last stint meant he was right there. It’s frustrating for him that he has had to fight back after qualifying in recent races but he is finding his form and will find it further in Budapest.”