Max Verstappen aims to maintain relentless F1 title charge by ending British GP jinx

Red Bull's Dutch driver has yet to win race on epic Silverstone circuit after nine years in sport

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen in the garage during practice ahead of the British GP at Silverstone, on July 1, 2022. Getty

After the pinched confines of Austria, Formula One moves on to the legendary sprawling leviathan that is Silverstone.

Splashed over 5.9 kilometres of English countryside, a few hours north of London, Sunday’s British Grand Prix is one of the epic challenges of world motor sport.

Motorway wide, super smooth tarmac and long, sweeping, corners allow for one of the fastest average speeds in the entire year, topping 250km/h.

It may be round 10 but Silverstone is the first circuit with the proportions to do real justice to the new breed of bigger, heavier, speeding F1 monsters.

And Max Verstappen may have won there twice but he returns after nine years in F1 still hunting his first British GP win.

He has triumphed in the accompanying sprint event and even the headline Sunday race but that was in the covid blighted times when it was called The Anniversary Grand Prix.

After win number 42 in Spielberg the British and Singapore Grands Prix are the only prizes missing from the champion’s bulging trophy cabinet (new venues aside).

That victory lifted him clear of the win total of Ayrton Senna and into the all time top five. Ahead lie Lewis Hamilton (103), Michael Schumacher (91), Sebastian Vettel (53) and Alain Prost (51).

At his current pace (seven wins in nine) there is every chance he will overtake Prost, a four-time champion, before the end of the season.

Surely even someone as relentlessly fast and metronomically consistent as Verstappen cannot win 11 of the remaining 13 races to move to third?

The track’s high speeds and the need for stability through some fearsomely fast chicanes and bends all favour Verstappen and Red Bull.

Silverstone tracks the fringe supply roads and runways of a Second World War airfield and today’s V6 1.6 hybrid turbo monsters blast past 300 kph in at least six different places.

The snaking Maggots, Becketts and Chapel complex where car balance is crucial has been voted among the greatest in world motor sport as drivers weave one way then the other at 300km/h generating fierce g-forces that multiply the weight of their own heads five times.

The speeds and lateral forces make this one of the toughest tracks of the season on tyres extra torture piled on by super-fast 90 degree right handers like Stowe and Copse taken in the blink of an eye at 275km/h.

On the Hangar and Wellington straights speeds close to 360km/h.

The entire layout has a real flow and vicious braking needed at just two corners, Vale and Village.

But the open and flat expanse means the drivers face an extra challenge from ever-changing winds which can upset the cars’ delicate aerodynamics. And then there is the erratic British weather!

Another dominant Verstappen victory would be a vicious blow to his rivals, especially Hamilton who, as a record eight-time winner of his home race, considers it his personal fiefdom.

The Dutchman already has a 81 point stranglehold on the world championship, while Sergio Perez and Fernando Alonso scrap over second and the Ferrari and Mercedes duos do battle for the rest.

British GP 2022 - in pictures

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  Zhou Guanyu's Alfa Romeo crashes at the start of the British GP at Silverstone on Sunday, July 3, 2022. Getty

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  Alfa Romeo driver Zhou Guanyu crashes at the start of the British Grand Prix. AP

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  Alfa Romeo's Zhou Guanyu crashes at Silverstone. Getty

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  Alfa Romeo's Zhou Guanyu crashes at Silverstone. Getty

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  Alfa Romeo driver Guanyu Zhou crashes at the start of the British Grand Prix. AP

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  Alfa Romeo driver Guanyu Zhou crashes at the start of the British Grand Prix. AP

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  Alfa Romeo driver Zhou Guanyu after the crash. AFP

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  Alfa Romeo driver Guanyu Zhou crashes at the start of the British Grand Prix. AP

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  Alfa Romeo's Zhou Guanyu crashes into the barrier. PA

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  Mercedes driver George Russell checks on Guanyu Zhou. EPA

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  The huge crash at the start of the British GP. AP

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  Ferrari's Carlos Sainz celebrates after winning the British GP. AFP

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  Carlos Sainz and Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton. AFP

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  Ferrari's Carlos Sainz celebrates winning the race on the podium. Reuters

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  Carlos Sainz celebrates on the podium with second-placed Red Bull driver Sergio Perez and third-placed Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes. Reuters

More than either of his wins, though, Verstappen is remembered by British fans for colliding with Hamilton at Copse two years ago while battling for the lead – and the 51G smash that followed.

It is another episode to add to Silverstone’s dramatic history.

That includes the Englishman’s epic triumph in lashing rain in 2008, Michael Schumacher’s leg-breaking crash in 1999, Damon Hill’s 1994 win ending a 30-year family jinx, Nigel Mansell’s victory in the spare car in 1986 or his epic comeback in 1987, recovering a 28 seconds deficit in 29 laps to beat teammate Nelson Piquet in the same car.

The history flows back to the earliest races when the world championship was born at Silverstone on May 13 1950.

The rich past explains why seven of the 10 teams are based nearby and come so heavily armed for this one race, desperately searching those extra few tenths and some home glory.

But there is a sliver of hope for Ferrari too, victors there last year from pole with Carlos Sainz Although the team is still plagued by human error the car is looking increasingly consistent, if not a pace-setter, thanks to subtle aero changes introduced since Barcelona testing

Silverstone also faces heightened security as Just Stop Oil protesters threaten to disrupt the race. But they are about as likely to stop Red Bull and Verstappen as his rivals.