Verstappen blames freak weather changes for subpar British GP result

Max Verstappen cursed a sudden change in weather conditions for his scrappy afternoon at the British Grand Prix from which he managed to salvage a fifth-place finish. 

Verstappen stunned the predominantly-British crowd in the grandstands at Silverstone on Saturday by placing his Red Bull on pole ahead of both McLarens.

A car setup designed for a higher top speed and an advantage on the long straights of the British track played its part in helping the defending Champion start ahead, but come Sunday the low downforce setup of his RB21 proved to be more of a hindrance.

Heavy rain fell both before and during the 52-lap event, which meant grip became a more important factor to overall race pace than top speed. Therefore, Verstappen suffered during the Grand Prix.

Falling Down The Order

The McLaren of Oscar Piastri passed Verstappen on the eighth lap, and Norris followed his teammate through a few laps later as Verstappen momentarily lost control of his RB21 through the esses.

Although the Dutchman reclaimed second position after McLaren messed up Norris' pitstop, all of the good work came undone just a handful of laps later when he spun his car on the second Safety Car restart.

Verstappen fell to tenth position, and remained bogged down in said position for many laps as he struggled for pace.

All things considered, the four-time World Champion did exceedingly well to muscle his Red Bull into fifth by the end of the Grand Prix, snatching a position from the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll on the penultimate lap.

Speaking to Sky Sports F1 after the race, Verstappen was asked how much he thought his low downforce impact adversely affected his performance in the Grand Prix.

He responded: "Probably not ideal, of course, in these kind of conditions, but we opted for that.

"Honestly, I never thought it was going to be so wet today, but I think the weather forecast overnight changed a little bit too much, and not in our favour.

"I think we were just a bit low on downforce and I couldn't balance it out between the high speed and the low speed with the tools that we had in the car. And that made it extremely difficult all the time," stated Verstappen.

Don't Trust The Weather Forecasts

Verstappen doesn't believe that his spin halfway through the race overly affected his final finishing position of P5.

He continued: "Of course I had my moment, but even after that, I recovered the spin and I continued and I had no pace. Like I was just stuck with these people around me.

"And then again, we did the right thing though with the pit stop and staying out a bit on the inters. So all the calls were correct, but we just simply lacked quite a bit of pace," lamented the defending Champion.

The 27-year-old expanded on the sudden change in weather forecasting for the Grand Prix.

He added: "Last night before I went to bed, I looked, you know, you keep an eye on it [the weather forecast].

"But last night before I went to bed, it suddenly really started to ramp up, and I thought 'this is not good'. And then when I woke up, it became even worse.

"And then you're locked in, you cannot change the car. That's what you committed to. And you know that then it's going to be difficult, but that's racing as well."

Despite the disappointment at the British Grand Prix, Verstappen is looking forward to his second home race in Belgium in three weeks' time.

• Read Also: British GP: Norris wins from Piastri, Hulkenberg on the podium!

He concluded: "Yeah, I mean, we'll never be happy with it [fifth place]. But yeah, we just take it. I mean, it's less painful when you are in the position that I'm in.

"So we just analyse that. Yes, at least it was positive for us. And then we just move on to Spa and try to have a good one. Spa is really nice."

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