Max Verstappen admits he was surprised by McLaren’s strong pace at the British Grand Prix after Lando Norris claimed a podium result.
McLaren has showcased strong speed all weekend, with Norris and team-mate Oscar Piastri finishing second and third in qualifying.
Piastri was on course for a podium result before a poorly timed Safety Car allowed Lewis Hamilton to take third place.
Norris led the early laps of the grand prix and was able to follow Verstappen closely once the Dutchman re-took the lead.
The Briton was forced into a defensive position to end the race as Hamilton attacked with softer tyres – however the McLaren driver held on to secure his team’s first podium of the year.
Verstappen, meanwhile, took his eighth win of the 2023 campaign – but says it was not a comfortable ride to the chequered flag.
“It wasn’t particularly straightforward,” Verstappen said. “I had a bad start, lots of wheelspin and so I had to work my way up again and get past Lando – it took a few laps.
“Then it also took a few laps to cool the tyres down again in the lead, so Lando came back at me in the DRS, but once everything settled in we could open up the gap lap after lap to nine seconds until the Safety Car came out.
“So that was very positive and the team was working quite well.”
McLaren introduced upgrades one week ago in Austria which boosted its form, but its leap up to the front of the field at Silverstone caught many by surprise – including Verstappen.
“It was still surprising to see that the McLaren, or Lando, was actually that quick over the whole stint,” he said.
“And then because of the Safety Car we had to make the decision of what tyre to put on the – the Soft or the Hard – so we opted to go for the soft, which at the time I thought was right.
“But when we restarted it only took a few laps and then I realised it was quite tricky to keep them under control with the temperatures.
“It wasn’t particularly nice to drive, so we will look into that and maybe we should have gone on the Hard tyre so we could have pushed a bit harder over the whole stint because the first two or three laps were a bit difficult.”
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