Max knew GP would never have put him in danger

Max Verstappen says he had full trust in his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase not to put him in danger as his British Grand Prix fell apart.

On lap 12, two laps after he had passed Carlos Sainz for the race lead, Verstappen was seen to be slowing and was overtaken by both Ferraris.

The reason was initially thought to be a puncture and the World Champion entered the pits for new tyres, but after re-emerging on track he swiftly knew something was still wrong with his Red Bull RB18.

Despite his protestations over the team radio, the Dutchman was told to keep going because the telemetry was telling the team nothing too serious was amiss that could put the driver at risk.

In the end, despite his lack of pace which had been caused by damage sustained when running over a piece of debris, Verstappen finished seventh and still leads the World Championship by 34 points from his team-mate, Sergio Perez.

“As soon as GP (Lambiase) says it’s safe to drive, I mean, he would never put me in danger,” said Verstappen, quoted by The Race.

“I know when they tell me it’s bodywork damage, and we can see the losses in downforce, then it’s fine. I know there’s damage, but if there’s like suspension damage it’s a different story. Luckily, it wasn’t that.”

An unlucky afternoon

We were on it from the beginning of the race, after getting of the line great on both occasions.

After picking up debri my floor was severely damaged and we struggled throughout the race. I gave it my all for P7 and collected important points. pic.twitter.com/9ZilfVeqEm

— Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) July 3, 2022

The 24-year-old explained how the loss of his victory chances had unfolded after running over what was thought to be a piece of carbon fibre from,