Red Bull's Max Verstappen with the trophy after winning the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix at Silverstone yesterday. Pic/AFP
Max Verstappen delivered Red Bull's first victory at Silverstone since 2012 on Sunday when he made the most of a superior strategy in sizzling conditions to beat both Mercedes and claim victory in the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix.
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It was the Dutchman's first victory of the season after Mercedes had won all four season-opening races and the ninth of his career.
Perfect race
"I think we did everything perfectly today," he said. "Thank you." His team boss Christian Horner responded with a team in-joke: "That was brilliant...fully-sanitised."
Verstappen owed his victory to a team decision to start the race on hard compound tyres while his main rivals all launched from the grid on mediums, the two Mercedes men struggling to manage tyre-wear throughout the race.
Verstappen won by 11.326 seconds ahead of drivers standings leader and six-time champion Lewis Hamilton who passed Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas in the closing stages. The Finn finished third. "I didn't see that coming, but after the first stint it seemed we were really good on tyres. I didn't have any tyre issues at all—a great day for us," said the Dutch star.
'Massive challenge'
Hamilton said: "That was a massive challenge, but congratulations to Red Bull. It was definitely unexpected to have the blistering as hard core as that."
Bottas, who started from pole, said: "Very frustrating for me, to start from pole and finish third...It's not ideal and I think that as a team we were sleeping at some points in the race. My strategy was far from ideal."
Hamilton's podium finish meant he equalled Michael Schumacher's career record of 155 podium finishes. It was also his record-extending 38th points scoring finish in a row.
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