Six in a row for Verstappen as he beats Norris and Hamilton to win at Silverstone

World champion Max Verstappen opened his already ominous lead over team-mate Sergio Perez to 99 points with his sixth win in a row on Sunday, winning the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

Taking place just 21 miles from their Bradbourne Drive factory, it was a home race for the Red Bull Racing team, but despite seeing Verstappen claim pole position in Northamptonshire, it McLaren’s Lando Norris who stole the show, sweeping past the Dutchman off the start line and leading the opening laps, much to the jubilation of the British fans.

Verstappen though would not be held back, making light work of the updated McLaren on lap 4 to retake the lead - one which he would not relinquish.

Despite a safety car shuffling the pack on lap 33, Verstappen maintained his lead ahead of Norris and fellow home crowd favourite Lewis Hamilton to claim his sixth win in a row, and the 11th straight for the team from Tilbrook.

“I’m very happy that we’ve won here again,” he said, having triumphed at Silverstone in 2020 in the 70th Anniversary GP behind closed doors. “Eleven ins in a row for the team is pretty incredible, the whole team can be proud of that.

“It definitely wasn’t straightforward today though, we had a bad start which made it more exciting for the fans, but we definitely need to look into that improve on it. Lando and Oscar (Piastri, McLaren) were super quick at the start so it took a few laps to pass them and to start to pull a gap.

“The competitors behind us were pushing hard and closing the gap so we need to try and find a little bit more.

“Overall though, a very nice team win and hopefully we can carry the form to Budapest for a repeat performance of last year.”

For Perez in the other Red Bull, it was another weekend heavily compromised by qualifying. For the fifth race in a row, the Mexican failed to make it to the top 10 shootout - in fact he failed to make it out of the first part of qualifying as he started 15th (promoted one place for a penalty for Valtteri Bottas).

Fighting through the field on Sunday, Perez could only reach sixth place. With his title bid looking dead in the water even before the half-way stage, Perez said he will be working in the simulator in Milton Keynes this week to help hom overcome his recent struggles.

He said: “(This week) I am going to be working with the team in the simulator. We have some ideas on what we can improve on and I am confident that this will help us work through it.

“I have full support from the team, I’m mentally very strong and I know that I will overcome these issues and turn around my season. The pace is there and I can still get back to where I should be.

“I am looking forward to Hungary and getting back on good form.”