At Silverstone, Max Verstappen broke the same rule many times, and Red Bull was punished three times for it. To prevent his three British competitors from winning their home Grand Prix in a fairytale fashion, the Dutchman was driving as quickly as he could. However, before the race started, he ought to have kept a closer eye on his speed. He was timed three times for exceeding the 80 kph limit during his reconnaissance circuits following the opening of the pit lane. Both were extremely little infractions; the second was only slightly faster at 0.5 kph over the limit, while the first two were only 0.4 kph over.
For Verstappen’s rule-breaking, Red Bull was fined £85 for each offense, which is a very small amount. Nor did he suffer from an athletic setback as a result of the way the race pan out.
Though he didn’t win the race, he did end up in second place, just behind Lewis Hamilton, who made a comeback to the top step of the Formula One podium. In fact, Verstappen increased his lead in the championship over Lando Norris, whom he eventually passed. After the race, the 26-year-old expressed his satisfaction with the outcome, saying he was worried he would fall behind as Red Bull initially struggled to keep up with its competitors’ speeds. “We just didn’t have the pace today,” he said to reporters.
At times, it didn’t look good because I was gradually retreating when it counted. “Are we going to finish fifth or sixth?” was all I could think. But we chose the right decisions. It was always the correct lap, whether you were moving from the slicks to the inters and vice versa.
Additionally, the team’s final move to switch to a hard tire from a soft one really helped me out. I believe this is the reason we came in second today as well. Therefore, things could have turned out much worse, but we’re making the correct decisions and managed to go onto the podium, so naturally, I’m thrilled about that.” Having missed his markings in front of the McLaren garage, Norris’s sluggish pit stop forced him to fall behind Hamilton, who was now dominating the race. The British driver acknowledged that he was solely responsible for his lack of a second career Formula One Grand Prix triumph.
“I blame myself [for not winning], but it’s still lovely to be on the podium,” the sorrowful 24-year-old remarked. My decision-making is flawed. If there’s one location I’d like everything to go exactly right, it’s here. I detest coming to this conclusion and making excuses.”