Jenson Button explained that Max Verstappen was being “very aggressive” in trying to generate tyre temperature at Silverstone, but that ultimately came undone as he was “destroying the tyre” in the process.
Verstappen, like the rest of the F1 field, started the British Grand Prix on intermediate tyres in a race of mixed conditions on Sunday, with the reigning World Champion suffering an uncharacteristic spin out of Stowe mid-race.
Max Verstappen ‘destroying the tyre’ with temperature generation at Silverstone
Additional reporting by Thomas Maher
While the Red Bull driver started on pole, his low-downforce setup used in qualifying would not prove to be optimal in racing conditions, with more downforce offering a more stable platform at Silverstone.
Several times, Verstappen was seen sliding out of Becketts and before the Hangar Straight, one such occasion leading Oscar Piastri to pass him for the lead early on.
Red Bull team-mate Yuki Tsunoda reported the intermediate tyres were “degging [degrading] like crazy” on Sunday, with the wet-weather tyres using a softer compound for better initial grip.
While 2009 World Champion Button backed Verstappen in his ability to make the tyres work, it came with an unwanted side-effect.
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“If anyone can get those tyres working, it was Max,” Button told Sky F1.
“He was being very, very aggressive so he could get temperature, and the problem with doing that? You’re just destroying the tyre, so you’re kind of stuck when you have a low-downforce car.
“It was an unusual mistake from Max, and it just shows how tricky it was out there. I mean, I love that he’s in the mix, [but] the car obviously isn’t quite there.”
For the four-time World Champion himself, he acknowledged his car setup was put in place with an early weather forecast in mind, which had predicted a lower chance of rain at Silverstone on Sunday.
He reported during the race that he did not have the speed to catch the cars in front, but worked his way back up into the top five come the chequered flag.
“To be honest, I didn’t know what to expect, but it was just very difficult from lap one onwards,” Verstappen told media including PlanetF1.com afterwards.
“Very difficult balance in the car between high speed and low speed – I couldn’t really find a good balance. Also on the inters, I think we were degrading the tyres too much, especially compared to McLaren, they were again, on a different level.
“Then I had, of course, my moment [at Stowe], which made everything a bit more difficult. But even when I was behind, like P10 or whatever I was in, I also didn’t really have the pace to move forward, which was a bit concerning.
“But then again, we made the right calls, stayed calm, stayed out as long as we could with the inters and that was, again, the right call. So we ended up fifth, which I think, in hindsight, is probably the best we could have done after all the things that happened during the race.”
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