Verstappen’s British GP Finish.

The 2019 British GP was anything but boring. Although the end result was predictable, the race overall was as surprising as it gets. We all know how smooth Hamilton’s finish was but Verstappen was the underdog, finishing 5th after a brutal crash.

Versteppen’s dance with Leclerc kept us on our toes and all through the race, the Redbull driver maintained his spot in the top 5. Max vs Leclerc is what we can call the Senna vs Prost of the 21st century. His constant rivalry with Leclerc and Vettel on each ends and how he kept up with the pressure Ferrari’s drivers were putting on him is worth re-watching. Although it seemed Leclerc and Vettel had totally different strategies with what Leclerc’s being “fight back” and Vettel’s being “fight Max in the back”.

Vettel was amongst the drivers who benefitted from the safety car which was a consequence of Antonio Giovinazzi beaching his Alfa Romeo. Verstappen overtook Vettel during the 36th lap taking the 3rd position, leaving Vettel in the 4th. In attempts to regain his position Vettel tried to overtake Max and instead rear-ended into Max destroying the Ferrari’s front wings and the rear tyres that got pushed into gravel. This allowed Leclerc to take the 3rd position which he skilfully maintained through the rest of the race. But Max had taken the brunt of the crash with an almost out-of-control car as an aftermath. The 37th lap may have essentially taken away Verstappen’s good chance of finishing in the top 3.The stewards declared the fault of Vettel giving him a 10-second penalty.

“I honestly don’t know how I brought that car to the finish,” said Verstappen. The crash had left him with a failed power steering, the seat was out and his floor and the diffuser were destroyed. In these conditions, he still managed to finish 5th scoring some points where as Vettel finished 16th and is a full 74 points behind the race champion, Lewis Hamilton.

Redbull’s Formula-one boss Christian Horner says he would have finished third and maybe even second depending on whether Bottas could catch upto him or not. But they never got the chance to witness it. It was certainly frustrating to the whole team considering they lost a podium spot which was a surety if only the crash hadn’t happened.