Max Verstappen says Red Bull elected to “play it safe” and make a precautionary additional stop, rather than risk a tyre failure, during the closing stages of the British Grand Prix.
Verstappen held fifth position, but was poised to move into fourth position after Kimi Räikkönen suffered a tyre failure in the final few laps.
Verstappen pitted on the same lap as Räikkönen, remaining behind the Finn, and remained in fifth, but moved up to fourth when Sebastian Vettel also encountered problems late on.
“It is a positive day, I am happy to finish the race and get some solid points once again,” he said.
“We got a bit lucky with Seb’s puncture at the end and I pitted to be safe as I knew I had enough room behind me.
“The front left didn’t feel great and having seen what happened to the Ferrari we played it safe.
“If I had seen Kimi pit at the end I may have stayed out to try and get a jump on him but we made the precautionary stop to make sure we finished.
“With a lot of fast rights here it takes its toll on the front left so we knew there would be issues late on.”
Verstappen earlier ran in third position for Red Bull after moving ahead of Vettel on the opening lap, and defended against the Ferrari driver, before ultimately being overhauled through the pit phase.
“At the beginning I knew I was quite a bit slower than Seb so I just did my best to stay in front and have some fun,” he said.
“It was the only thing I could do and luckily he didn’t manage to pass me on track, after that little battle my race became a bit lonely.
“Fourth is a good result, probably one place better than we expected which is always nice.
“We have some upgrades coming in Hungary which I am hoping will make some steps towards being able to fight with the top two teams.”
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