Verstappen hails Silverstone pole as ‘big boost for the team’ as he vows to ‘go racing’ against rivals

Max Verstappen was pleased to deliver a “big boost” to the Red Bull team by securing pole position at the British Grand Prix, with the Dutchman excited to “go racing” as he prepares to line up ahead of the McLaren pair on the grid.

While Oscar Piastri had set provisional pole during the first Q3 runs, the Australian made an error during his final effort – something that Verstappen did not do as the four-time World Champion went quickest of all on a 1m 24.892s, a time 0.103s ahead of Piastri’s previous benchmark.

Reflecting on the lap after jumping out of the car, Verstappen admitted that the conditions had not made things easy as he explained: “It was tricky out there with the wind.

“Throughout the whole of Qualifying it was shifting around a bit, and around here with these cars they are extremely sensitive to it.

“[I] just tried to tidy it up throughout Qualifying and that final lap was good enough. This is a proper track in Qualifying, where you have to go flat-out on all these corners, you have to be really committed and that's really enjoyable.”

When pushed on the fact that the squad are running a car that has been trimmed on downforce – and how this appeared to benefit in Qualifying rather than just being a race choice – Verstappen responded: “We're quite quick on the straights but of course it's not that easy in the high-speed corners to manage, but we did today luckily.

“Of course we have to wait and see what tomorrow will do, if there's a bit of rain around or not. I'm happy of course with our Qualifying, it's a big boost for the team as well and [I’m] just excited to go racing tomorrow.”

Verstappen will be joined on the front row by Piastri, while the other McLaren of Lando Norris lines up just behind in third. Asked if he has the race pace to keep the papaya cars behind, the 27-year-old answered: “Difficult to say, but we'll try.

“We're going to go racing, we're going to have fun and try the best we can.”