Helmut Marko explains why Red Bull lost the British GP to ‘masterful’ Lewis Hamilton

Max Verstappen’s normal “strong points” weren’t in play at Silverstone whereas Lewis Hamilton showed “what a master he is” as he beat the Red Bull driver to the chequered flag.

All in all, Helmut Marko says he can “only congratulate” the Mercedes driver on his ninth British Grand Prix victory.

Red Bull motorsport advisor: Max Verstappen’s ‘strong points’ deserted him

945 days after his last win which was during his 2021 title fight against Verstappen , Hamilton stepped onto the top step of the podium at the Silverstone circuit.

It was a tricky race due to the changeable conditions, but while that’s often when Verstappen comes into his own, on Sunday he was struggling.

As the race entered its final stint, he bolted on a set of hard tyres while race leader Hamilton and Lando Norris opted for the softs, but it initially looked as if P3 would be the best Verstappen could ask for.

However, as his hard tyres came into their own on a cold Silverstone circuit, he was able to pass Norris before closing the gap on Hamilton. He fell 1.4s short with Marko declaring he was “two laps short of beating Hamilton”.

He added to Sky Deutschland : “We lost the race in the first stint, because Max suffered from a lot of graining on the mediums.

“In addition, he also lost a lot of time on a wet circuit, while this is normally his strong point.

“The tyres just didn’t work, but I have to thank our people for the pit stops and strategy. Everything was right, including the choice of hard tyres in the last stint.”

Verstappen admitted he had had “no grip at all” when the rain came down.

“I didn’t want to take too many risks because I just didn’t feel comfortable,” he added. “So I thought to myself: ‘I’ll just sit here and try to survive.’ And that’s exactly what I did.”

Having survived, he was then able to challenge in the last stint where he felt the hard Pirellis were “the best for driving at full throttle.”

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Red Bull ‘can only congratulate Lewis Hamilton’ on his British GP win

Verstappen lost out on the win by 1.4 seconds as Hamilton recorded a record-breaking ninth British Grand Prix victory .

But while Marko believes Red Bull hampered their own chances of winning, he feels Hamilton deserves praise for his win as he showed “what a master” he is on the track.

“You can only congratulate Hamilton,” the 81-year-old said. “He held up well on a dry track. You then see his strength in terms of tyre management.

“We could see that his tyres had already started to grain slightly. And we thought it would be OK, but that shows what a master he is, who can read a race and who challenges the tyres just right so that they don’t collapse.

“Lewis Hamilton did a great job, and that just shows how much experience and speed he still has.”

Verstappen’s P2 meant he extended his lead at the top of the Drivers’ Championship to 84 points ahead of Norris, with Red Bull 71 points up on Ferrari in the Constructors’ Championship.

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