Red Bull pulls an all-nighter to secure pole position for Verstappen

18:15, 05 Jul

byKimberley Hoefnagel

Christian Horner is incredibly pleased with Max Verstappen's pole position at the Silverstone circuit. The British team boss praised Verstappen's qualifying round and the hard work of the team's mechanics after the event.

After a challenging Friday at Silverstone, Verstappen had almost given up hope for the pole position. However, Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko and team boss Christian Horner kept their hopes up, and rightly so, as it turned out. Verstappen brilliantly took pole position, allowing him to start ahead of both McLaren drivers on Sunday.

"Absolutely. It's always very special to be at Silverstone. And what a lap. I have to say what a great job the team have done. We brought a few upgrades here, tuned them over the last 24 hours. And then Max has delivered the best lap possible and at a track that is all about aerodynamics, so great performance."

"Absolutely. And look, the car was out of balance yesterday, but we could see that we'd added a little bit of load to the car, and it was about balancing the car, and the team have worked hard overnight and yeah they've done a great job."

Verstappen Faces a Tough Sunday at Silverstone

Asked about the possibilities for Sunday, Horner indicated that the race could turn out to be very challenging. "The McLarens, we know, are super strong on race pace, but to get pole at the British Grand Prix is a big result." According to Horner, it's a matter of waiting and seeing what possibilities the race may present.

"Let's see what we can do in the race tomorrow. We're achieving our lap time differently. We're very quick on the straight. We're basically on Monza levels of downforce. So the car's quick on the straight. We give away a little bit of time in some of the corners. So it'll be all about the weather and the beautiful British summer and the wind and strategy." Whether Verstappen can win will largely depend on the weather and the team's strategy.