Verstappen mocks McLaren gamble: 'That was a great call, I was like, Thank you'

Many were left surprised by the decision made by Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris at the start, with the two McLaren drivers the only frontrunners to gamble on intermediate tyres despite the track conditions still clearly favouring slicks, even with light rain falling around the circuit.

The reigning world champion made an excellent launch into Turn 1 and briefly held the lead throughout the opening lap, only to eventually suffer the same fate as his teammate by being forced back into the pits. What initially looked like a bold gamble quickly turned into a nightmare race for the Woking-based team.

Asked for his reaction to McLaren’s strategy gamble, Verstappen responded with his usual sarcastic humour, admitting he had been more than happy to see both rivals start the race on intermediate tyres given how quickly the decision backfired: “That was a great call. I was like, ‘Thank you.’”

The Dutchman capitalised both on McLaren’s strategic disaster - which effectively ruled both drivers out of podium contention almost immediately - and on George Russell’s costly retirement on lap 30 to secure his first podium finish of the season, despite ultimately losing out in a late-race battle with Lewis Hamilton, who snatched second place away from him in the closing stages.

Despite securing his first podium finish of the season, Verstappen continued his criticism of the 2026 regulations, arguing that F1 has become overly artificial and unnecessarily complicated from a driver’s perspective. He explained that recent experiences racing other types of cars had reminded him how pure and natural motorsport can feel, contrasting that with the current complexity of F1. According to Verstappen, the quality of the racing ultimately depends far more on the drivers themselves than on the regulations or the cars, insisting that the best drivers in the world would still put on a great show even in far simpler cars.

He also criticised the growing number of technical procedures and energy-management rules drivers are forced to handle throughout a race weekend, ranging from battery charging limits to specific instructions regarding formation laps, out-laps and overtaking situations. He argued that many fans are not even aware of how complicated modern Formula 1 has become behind the scenes.

The Red Bull driver finally reiterated his hope that planned adjustments for next season will move the sport back towards a more natural and “pure” form of racing, insisting that while fans may enjoy seeing close battles on track, the entertainment itself comes from the drivers racing each other rather than from the complexity of the current cars and regulations.

"For me F1 just needs to be more pure and I really hope that what they try to do next year will go through because I think that is necessary, the minimum necessary, to make it a bit more natural and a bit more back to normal, or at least a bit more pure racing."