Verstappen gets back on track with Silverstone points

Max Verstappen scored his first points since Monaco with a fine fourth place at the British Grand Prix on Sunday.
Verstappen leads Vettel in the early lapsVerstappen leads Vettel in the early laps
Verstappen leads Vettel in the early laps

The Red Bull Racing teenager jumped Sebastian Vettel at the start to run third for the opening stint, but dropped behind the championship leader after first pit-stops.

It would be a lonely afternoon otherwise for Verstappen, being caught and passed by Valtteri Bottas' Mercedes in the closing stages, as he looked destined for a fifth place finish.

Mechanical woes, and being caught up in others' accidents have prevented Verstappen from finishing five of the last seven races heading to Silverstone, but tyre problems for both Ferraris of Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen saw the Dutchman nick fourth place on the penultimate lap, much to the delight of the home crowd as Lewis Hamilton closed the gap to just a single point at the top of the championship.

"It is a positive day," said Verstappen afterwards. "I am happy to finish the race and get some solid points once again.

"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.

"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, 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.

"Our pace was pretty good and the car felt competitive during the race, it felt better than it did in qualifying so now we need to understand why we struggled yesterday. 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.”