2023-07-08 16:19:00
In a turbulent qualifying session on Saturday at Silverstone, Verstappen was faster than the McLaren duo Lando Norris (+0.241 seconds) and Oscar Piastri (+0.372), who were surprisingly surprised at the home race on Sunday (4 p.m. / live ORF 1 and Sky). Places two and three will start.
Norris was enthusiastically applauded by home fans in England. “It was close, two tenths were missing for pole, crazy. Max just ruins everything,” joked the 23-year-old Briton. “I’m happy, it’s been a difficult year so far.” Teammate Piastri (22), who has never been better than ninth in qualifying, was also happy. “It’s a mega result. I’m really, really happy,” said the Australian rookie. McLaren boss Zak Brown, whose team has only collected 29 points so far, was hopeful regarding the race. “I think our race pace is good,” he emphasized on the ORF microphone.
Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc finished fourth, just ahead of last year’s winner Carlos Sainz in the second Ferrari. Behind them was the British Mercedes duo George Russell and Lewis Hamilton. However, the distances behind Verstappen were tight, which Toto Wolff also addressed. “We had the misfortune of the fittest today, but made a big step forward from the pace,” said the Mercedes boss. Williams driver Alexander Albon, who was third, third and second in the three practice sessions, will start the race at the 800th Grand Prix of the British racing team from eighth place on the grid.
Verstappen is on pole position for the fifth time in a row, and the 25-year-old celebrated his 27th pole position. “A great day, I’m looking forward to tomorrow,” said Verstappen. “It was a crazy qualifying, hectic and slippery, especially in Q1 and Q2.” Teammate Sergio Perez experienced his next qualifying disaster, the Mexican missed the top ten for the fifth time in a row and started from 16th place.
In a chaotic first qualifying segment on a wet and drying track, Perez was 19 thousandths of a second slower than Fernando Alonso in the Aston Martin, who ended up ninth. There had previously been an interruption because Haas driver Kevin Magnussen had broken down in the Haas. The high-speed track kept getting faster and Perez was the first driver on the track to have the worst conditions just before the end.
Curious Incident: When driving out of the pits, Verstappen crashed into the wall and demolished his front wing.
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Marko defends Perez
“Because I waited so long in the pit lane, the temperature in the tires was outside,” explained Perez and showed insight. “That was a very poor qualifying session today. I had problems with the car in this weather and I have to find out why that was.” Red Bull motorsport consultant Helmut Marko showed understanding: “He wasn’t out at the right moment, that was quite unfortunate. We wanted to have him out as soon as possible because there was a chance of rain. He has the bonus that he always has good races delivers.”
Verstappen caused a moment of shock when he crashed slightly into the wall when driving out of the pits without traction and destroyed his front wing. “It only bent the front wing, thank God we had a second one. That caused some excitement,” emphasized Marko. The team is also happy that Hamilton is not standing next to Verstappen, that is “a reassurance”. The Styrian alluded to the crash of the two exceptional drivers at Silverstone two years ago on the first lap, when Verstappen retired and Hamilton still won the race.
In the overall World Championship standings, Verstappen is already 81 points ahead of Perez. Alonso is 98 points behind the leader, Hamilton is 123 points behind. For Red Bull it is regarding the eleventh win in a row on the traditional circuit in Silverstone, with which the Austro racing team would equal McLaren’s 35-year record from the 1988 season. Verstappen celebrated seven successes in nine races this year and has recently won five times in a row, Perez triumphed twice.
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#Pole #position #Max #Verstappen #Silverstone
