Red Bull’s Max Verstappen blamed the weather for his “not in our favour” fifth-placed finish at the 2025 British Grand Prix.
Verstappen led from pole position in damp conditions but lost the lead to McLaren’s Oscar Piastri into Stowe on lap eight then dropped to third on lap 11 after he ran wide at Chapel, which allowed eventual winner – Lando Norris to pass him.
Reflecting post-race on the weather’s impact on his chances of victory, Verstappen bemused the change of weather forecast which didn’t favour his skinny rear wing setup.
“We didn’t think it was going to be so wet today; the weather forecast overnight changed and it was not in our favour, so it was really difficult with the rear wing that we had today.
“Every time we were low on downforce and couldn’t balance it out in the high and low speed, with the tools that we had.”
A slow first stop for Norris however saw Verstappen jump him for third and clear Williams’ Alex Albon who had moved into second by staying out, but he couldn’t catch Piastri amidst two safety cars in quick succession.
The second safety car period ended on lap 21 which led Piastri to brake heavily to give maximum space for the safety car to pit, which caused Verstappen to pass the championship leader briefly but the reigning four-time champion’s hopes of victory ended at Stowe with a spin.
That incident dropped Verstappen as low as 11th but he recovered to finish fifth with a penultimate lap pass on Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, which left him baffled at how he managed to spin on the exit of Stowe.
“Of course, I had the spin and we lost a lot of positions at the restart. I don’t really know what happened as I tried to go on the throttle, but we recovered it as much as we could to get to P5. Even after that happened, I continued and the car had no pace which wasn’t great.”
Verstappen however was pleased with the strategy despite lacking pace on the intermediate tyres and is keen to focus on the next race, which takes place in his birth country of Belgium at Circuit Spa Francorchamps from 25-27 July.
“From a positive side, we got our strategy right and did the right thing with the pit stop and staying on the inters. All the calls were correct but the inters just lacked a bit of pace. That is racing though, we will never be happy with fifth, but we move on to the next race.”
Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg took advantage of Verstappen’s spin to finish third and achieve his first podium in his 239th start in F1, which left Verstappen praising the German for his result.
“The race wasn’t that enjoyable for me but it was nice to see Nico get his first podium and I’m sure he will be celebrating tonight.”
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