F1 disaster at Silverstone: Max Verstappen explains what happened

Not a puncture, but a far more serious problem.

Max Verstappen had to settle for seventh place at the British Grand Prix, with Charles Leclerc pulling back to within 43 points of him (which would have been 30 if the Monegasque had won). And the reigning Formula 1 world champion was keen to explain what problems he had at Silverstone.

“I didn’t actually suffer a puncture, but I immediately noticed that I had lost a lot of pace,” explained the Red Bull Dutchman. To me it looked like a puncture, but in fact I had hit a debris. In fact, after the tire change, the situation was the same. And in the faster corners I felt like there was damage.”

Only at the end of the race did Verstappen then realize what had happened: “I got out of the car and realized that the whole right side of the bottom had been completely destroyed. That’s why I had no more load, because the bottom is the most important component of these cars to have load.”