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Max Verstappen’s father Jos believes that the Dutchman will come back “strong” at the 2022 F1 British GP despite rivals benefitting from upgrades to their cars. Given his son’s strong performances at the venue in previous seasons, Jos Verstappen feels confident of a good result heading into the race. Speaking to RTL, he said:
“Normally he will be strong there. There are always teams that bring updates, so we always have to wait and see how it really goes.”
He added:
“But my feeling about this race is good. Max doesn’t worry about anything. He always does very well, and in normal conditions we will be strong there too.”
After a dominant showing throughout the weekend, Max Verstappen narrowly missed out on pole position in qualifying to Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz after his final run was hampered by yellow flags.
But since the reigning world champion has often been much stronger on race day compared to qualifying throughout the season, he is likely to be the fastest man on track during the race on July 3, 2022.
Starting on the front row alongside Carlos Sainz, with his chief rivals Sergio Perez and Charles Leclerc behind him, Verstappen still holds an advantage. He could potentially take the lead at the start of the race and build up a gap between himself and Leclerc, while Sainz acts as a buffer.
Meanwhile, Max Verstappen says he doesn’t have any hard feelings about his clash at the venue last season while battling Lewis Hamilton for the lead. Rebuffing claims from his father that he will be looking to “get even” for the incident at this year’s race, the Red Bull driver said that he has already “dealt with it.” Speaking to GP Racing Magazine ahead of the weekend, he said:
“I don’t have any hard feelings. And I also think very easily I can put these things aside. Of course, it wasn’t nice what happened, but at the end of the day, you deal with it. It wasn’t a nice impact for me personally, but we go out there again and try to win of course.”
Charles Leclerc expects Ferrari to “play strategic moves” to prevent another Max Verstappen victory
Charles Leclerc has hinted that Ferrari might consider asking Carlos Sainz to switch positions with him, to help the team “secure a 1-2 finish” and, more importantly, to prevent another Max Verstappen-Red Bull victory.
The Monegasque believes that he has the pace to hunt Verstappen down for the lead despite failing to qualify on the front row. Speaking to the Motorsport Network following qualifying, he said:
“I think what is most important is that we finish 1-2, whatever way around it is.”
He further said:
“If we can play strategic moves in between the cars, I’m pretty sure that we will. I feel confident with the car, so let’s wait and see.”
Despite Charles Leclerc hoping for Ferrari to intervene in his favor, it is unlikely that will happen. Over the last few races, Carlos Sainz has built up his confidence within the car and is seemingly able to extract the most out of his package, as evidenced by his stellar performances in Canada. Unless the Spaniard suddenly lacks the pace at Silverstone, it is more likely that he will be the one hunting Max Verstappen down instead of his teammate.
Watch how the the story unfolds in the British GP on July 3, 2022.
