Verstappen's fire: "That's also how you warm up your front tyres"

The start of the sprint qualifying session at Silverstone was a real adrenaline rush: burning brakes for Max Verstappen, a difficult start for Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull Racing taking the lead before the first corner.

While Verstappen is still standing, you can see that flames are shooting out of his left front tyre: the brakes are so hot that they catch fire. "The brakes of a Formula 1 car can become between four hundred and one thousand degrees," Robert Doornbos explains at Ziggo Sport. "Here I think we're towards that upper limit, it shouldn't have taken a second longer. That's also how you warm up your front tyres."

Then the start of Verstappen, who takes over the lead from Hamilton even before the first corner. "Max has a perfect start. He looks straight away, positions himself and has taken the lead in a very dominant way," Doornbos continued.

Hamilton's start, on the other hand, was slightly less so. "You see a little moment with Lewis as if he shifts up and drops away for a moment. Bottas, on the other hand, is then locked behind Max, unable to turn in as a result and loses his advantage on that rather aggressive red tyre he had," says the Formula One analyst.

The difficult start of Hamilton's Mercedes is reminiscent of Red Bull Racing, who also got away badly at the start for a long time. "That's something they will have to work on at Mercedes," Doornbos said.