Windsor saw Verstappen elevate himself to F1 legend status at Silverstone

21:43, 08 Jul

byKevin Doldersum

The British Grand Prix that took place last weekend was a true spectacle. For Max Verstappen, the weekend took a disappointing turn as he saw a magnificent pole position nullified during the race. Still, the Red Bull Racing driver receives compliments for his performances on Saturday afternoon.

"Absolutely one of the best (quali laps, ed.) he's ever driven," began Peter Windsor on the YouTube channel of Cameron CC.

"They [Red Bull] were running a dry setup obviously, and how significant their advantage was over the McLaren in the straight line."

"Not over Ferrari and Mercedes, let's not get carried away here, they were running about the same relative downforce as Ferrari and Mercedes. But who was quickest through Copse Corner on that last phase of Q3? Max Verstappen."

According to the Australian F1 analyst, this was a remarkable occurrence. Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris both had more downforce and a car that generally had better balance.

Yet, the reigning world champion managed to maneuver his RB21 in such a way that he was the fastest driver at the Silverstone circuit. Copse Corner was the crucial point on the track.

"Not a massive amount of downforce in the car, he was quicker than both McLarens through Cope. What does that tell you about Max Verstappen? And he was lifting slightly, just slightly feathering. The other two, two McLaren drivers, were absolutely flat."

"But because they don't quite have the finesse of Max in the initial turn-in, and which then obviously is a factor when it comes to tyre scrub as you're going into cobs at very high speed, over 180 miles an hour, because Max is. 0:58absolutely fingertip perfect in everything he did," analysed Windsor.

Verstappen creates one of the best F1 moments in a long time

The 73-year-old couldn't stop talking about Verstappen's magical lap. "In terms of what Max was doing with that car. I think what he did in Copse was one of the best things I've seen for a long, long time. And he did it, as I said, he did it in the draft of Kimi Antonelli. No complaints about dirty air at all. Nothing. No, 'I've got a tow coming out,'" said Windsor laughing somewhat amazed.

The Grand Prix went from bad to worse for the Dutchman. Windsor expressed his dissatisfaction about this earlier. He concluded by addressing the rare mistake of the four-time world champion. "It's no tyre tempertur, with not a lot of downforce on the car, frustration, tyres going off, the car very, very difficult to drive and just giving a bit too much throttle, I don't see it as a massive mistake. He held it, didn't hit anything and kept going. Big deal," concluded Windsor.