Mika Häkkinen: Impressive Verstappen seizes his opportunity as Mercedes suffers tyre trouble yet again

Mika Häkkinen: Impressive Verstappen seizes his opportunity as Mercedes suffers tyre trouble yet again

A combination of blistering sunshine and softer Pirelli tyres cost Mercedes at Silverstone, but take nothing away from Max Verstappen.

JUST when we thought that Mercedes Benz might win every Grand Prix this season we were again reminded that Formula 1 is never easy. There is always something waiting to catch you out, and yesterday it was the combination of a hot English summer’s day and softer Pirelli tyres which gave Max Verstappen the chance to take a great win for Red Bull.

Silverstone is quick, a flat out track of the kind that is usually good for cars with a lot of power combined with good aerodynamic efficiency. The Mercedes W11 is the fastest car in Formula 1 at the moment, with a great power unit and very good downforce, but while that has been a great package in qualifying it has hurt them at the two Silverstone races.

One week ago both their cars destroyed their front tyres at the end of the race, and this time both Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas had tyre problems from early on, while Max was able to push harder in a car which was clearly easier on its Pirellis.

Valtteri’s pole position lap on Saturday was fantastic to see - a really committed lap to beat Lewis by 0.063s. This was an incredibly small margin between the Mercedes team mates, and coming at the end of a week in which Valtteri announced his contract extension for 2021 it was a great moment for both him and his fans. He keeps pushing to improve, showing a massive commitment to pushing Lewis as hard as possible can, and a pole position result at his team mate’s home circuit will have felt very satisfying.

The problem, as always, is that you don’t win points for qualifying on pole position - something which Valtteri himself was quick to point out on Saturday evening. It’s race day that matters, and within a few laps of the race starting we could see that this was not going to be a straightforward afternoon for the black Mercedes cars.

The moment a tyre starts to overheat and blister, you have no choice but to back off. This means being much more conservative with the way you drive corners - not ideal on any track, but particularly on a flat out one like Silverstone. Tyre management, therefore, was the key factor in this race.

Although Valtteri had taken the lead, both he and Lewis’ radio messages that their medium tyres were beginning to suffer meant that they had to pit quite early on laps 13 and 14. Max’s Red Bull, which had started on a set of hard tyres, was able to take the lead and run happily for 26 laps. This is where the race was won - you could see that Max was able to set competitive lap times on old hards, while Lewis and Valtteri were again beginning to have problems on their second set.

The strategy worked out perfectly for Max. You could really see his advantage when he came out on medium tyres after the first pit stop and rejoined the track right behind Valtteri - overtaking him almost immediately. The Red Bull was on the right pace, with the right tyres, throughout this race, and Max’s victory is well deserved.

I know Valtteri was disappointed to finish third behind Lewis, but when you look at their strategies there was a big difference. Having both stopped at approximately the same time on the medium tyres, Valtteri did 19 laps on his first set of hards while Lewis managed 27, and this meant that at the end of the race the World Championship leader was on tyres which were nine laps fresher. That made all the difference.

Once again Ferrari struggled to be competitive this weekend, but again Charles Leclerc drove a very clever race - managing to make only one pit stop on his way to finishing fourth. On a day when the Mercedes drivers could not make their tyres last, Charles did a really good job - probably helped by the fact that the Ferrari does not generate anything like the downforce of the Mercedes, and therefore puts less energy through its tyres.

One driver to mention is Nico Hulkenberg, who finished seventh for Racing Point but did a fantastic job to qualify third on his second weekend substituting for Sergio Perez. Putting an F1 car on the limit is really difficult, especially at a maximum commitment track like Silverstone, and he deserves a lot of respect for what he achieved on Saturday.

Watching the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix at Silverstone I am very thankful for having had the opportunity to race in Formula 1 for 11 of those years, and to win two World Championships. I was fortunate to race for two of the most successful teams in the sport’s history, with Team Lotus and McLaren winning an incredible 33 World Championships for Drivers and Constructors between them. This underlines the fact that Formula 1 has always had teams which dominate from time to time, but change always comes eventually.

Best of all, I have worked with some incredibly clever people and am fortunate to have raced against great drivers like Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost and my big rival Michael Schumacher. However, I have a big appreciation for everyone who has raced in Formula 1, and for the team personnel, FIA officials and track marshals who make it all possible.

One of the biggest satisfactions, of course, is racing in front of millions of fans, and giving them entertainment, enjoyment and some sporting drama along the way. 

It’s a fantastic sport and, at a time when the world is facing some big challenges, I am looking forward to what the future is going to bring for the teams, the technology and - most of all - the racing.

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