Max Verstappen's drama on-and-off the track at Silverstone

Home of motor racing

The British Grand Prix is always the circuit circled on the racing calendar, with the best drivers in the world going to the home of motor racing.

Focusing on Verstappen

This year, drama unfolded both on and off the track, with a particular focus on four-time F1 world champion Max Verstappen. The British fans certainly let their feelings be known to the Red Bull driver.

Not the same for the British

The same definitely couldn't be said for Lewis Hamilton and eventual race winner Lando Norris, who were met by jubilant and almost football-like scenes when they were announced.

Football terraces

The chorus of boos for Verstappen was captured on countless clips filmed by fans at the GP, and it raises the question: has Verstappen's villain persona turned the F1 stands into more unsportsmanlike football terraces?

Booed everywhere he goes

Since dominating the sport and winning the last four world titles, Verstappen has been met by boos anywhere away from the Netherlands. He was booed at the 2025 race opener in Australia and was even met by jeers at the Red Bull Ring in Austria, his team's home race.

Starting on pole

Despite all the booing, per the F1 website, Verstappen put together a perfect lap at the end of qualifying to secure pole position for the race on Sunday, ahead of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris in the McLarens.

Race leader

Despite Piastri being the provisional race leader during the first runs of Q3, Verstappen secured a time of 1m 24.892s, putting himself 0.103s clear of Piastri's McLaren.

Could he hold them off?

With rain pouring down sporadically during the race, the question was whether Verstappen could hold off the far superior McLarens in the harsh conditions, with Norris and Piastri right on his tail from the moment the race started.

Soon punished

It worked in qualifying, but in the rainy conditions during the race, the car struggled massively due to a lack of aerodynamic downforce, causing it to become imbalanced. McLaren soon capitalised, with Piastri gaining P1 soon into the race.

The safety car

During lap 21 of the race, Piastri slowed down abruptly for a virtual safety car. Verstappen seemingly flew past the Australian before taking his rightful place behind the race leader.

Spinning out

As Piastri sped up after Verstappen had just braked heavily, the Dutchman put his foot on the throttle before spinning out on the track. The Red Bull driver dropped to tenth place while Piastri was awarded a ten-second penalty, per Sky Sports.

Finishing fifth

The penalty handed Norris his first British GP title, and Verstappen did exceptionally well to finish the race in fifth, despite his race going extremely off course at the halfway mark.

Nearly one minute behind

Despite starting to race in P1, the poor choices for the car and the incident on lap 21 meant that Verstappen finished over 56 seconds behind Norris and 50 seconds behind Piastri.