Will Max Verstappen’s British GP low-downforce choice pay off or bite him?

Qualifying at Formula 1’s British Grand Prix was intriguing as it is, with the top six cars within 0.229s in Q3. What was even more interesting is the different set-up choices that got them there.

The Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were fast in the high-speed corners but slower on the straights, while Red Bull’s polesitter Max Verstappen moved to a lower-downforce wing that turned his RB21 into a straightline rocket, but made it slower in the demanding corner sequences. McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris were somewhere in between those two extremes.

Verstappen explained that his move to a low-downforce wing was pretty much mandatory after suffering from crippling understeer on Friday, a trait which he despises. By trimming downforce at the rear, Red Bull was able to get the car balance in a better window, and that allowed Verstappen to get more bite in the twistier second sector of the circuit and deny the McLarens pole position. “For us that looked like the best option. More downforce wouldn’t have worked well for us,” he said.

“I think what is quite interesting is that Ferrari is incredibly quick in the corners, but slow on the straight. I would say McLaren is a bit in the middle of it all. And then we are incredibly quick on the straight, but slow in the corners. So, it can be quite interesting with how everything will work out – also with the tyres, how they will behave. So, I just hope for an exciting race between a lot of teams. I think it’s just going to depend on who can keep their tyres alive in the stint.”

But what effect will his lower wing setting have on those chances? Will we see a repeat of the Japanese Grand Prix, where the slightly faster McLarens never managed to get close to overtaking Verstappen? Or will Silverstone’s increased tyre wear mean the reigning world champion will go through his tyres too quickly?

Why less downforce might not hurt Verstappen’s tyre wear

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images

With Verstappen quickest on the straight, it looks clear that simply slipstreaming past him using DRS won’t be that easy. Overtaking might not be as hard as it was in Suzuka, but it is still a challenge at the British GP venue. So, McLaren will have to make the difference on tyre management, as it usually does. And while conventional wisdom would argue having more downforce helps keeping the tyres under control, the way Verstappen makes his lap time could mean he will have to put less load through his tyres.

“We just need to make sure the front tyres don’t overheat,” he pinpointed Red Bull’s Achilles heel this season. “That’s generally a big issue for us. Maybe the setup we have now will help with that. We’re obviously quick on the straights. Not so fast in the corners, but hopefully we can compensate.”

McLaren team boss Andrea Stella is certainly wary of Verstappen’s impressive-looking long-run pace, and also felt the Dutchman’s set-up might not necessarily work against him.

“It looks like Max, based on the lap times he could do on Friday that were competitive in high fuel, is a very serious candidate to win the British Grand Prix,” he said.

“At this circuit and in these conditions, our belief is that there is not a great relationship between the downforce level for the way you produce lap time and the tyre wear. Because you will be fast in the straights, which means actually you have to push, if anything, a little bit less in the corners. If you rely on lap time generating in the corners, then you do have to push the corners. You may stress your tyres even more.

“So, it is not clear that the rear wing solution that Red Bull adopted will necessarily cause a worse situation for a tyre. We will see whether this was a good choice for the raceability and tyre wear, or it wasn’t.”

Rain threat

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Colin McMaster / LAT Images via Getty Images

That could all change if the rain persists. The heavens opened up above Northamptonshire in the morning, although the expectation is that skies will have cleared up by the time the race gets under way at 3pm.

“We have to wait and see a little bit also how the weather will be in general, if there is some rain or not,” said Verstappen. “The straightline speed is nice to have but you still need to manage the tyres around here. It’s very tough with all these high-speed corners.”

But if it dries up, then the net benefit for Red Bull – and the likes of Mercedes for that matter, who looked well behind its three fellow frontrunners – is cooler temperatures to offer Pirelli’s rubber a helping hand. “With the weather forecast saying it’ll be even cooler, we’re approaching the race with relative confidence,” said an upbeat Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko. “What I think went completely under the radar is that Max had the fastest long run on Friday…”

Photos from British GP – Race