Verstappen lost 100 downforce points to floor: 'More than a second'

After teammate Sergio Perez ended up in the gravel, Verstappen also went off the track at Copse. The car bounced hard up and down, causing damage to his floor. This did kill his chance of pole position, but the Dutchman did manage to put his car in fourth place.

Verstappen lost more than second due to damage

After qualifying, Verstappen told opposite Viaplay that he thinks P4 was the maximum possible: "I think so, after Q1, when of course I had to go through the gravel because it suddenly started raining in that corner. Yes, I lost 100 points of downforce first. Then they slowly managed to bring it back a bit. But if you look at that floor, that doesn't look good."

When Verstappen was asked about how much time he lost with his loss of 100 downforce points, he replied, "Well, that's a lot. Then you're really talking about more than a second. But in the end, of course, it was slightly less. But with that gap to pole, I'm satisfied."

Why did Verstappen go through the gravel?

Verstappen then explained how it was that he had to go through the gravel: "Yes, we were of course one of the last to go out. We didn't expect it to start raining during the session. So I then naturally arrived for my fast lap. I just couldn't do anything. I was even braking already. Of course I had rain on my visor. I brake and it breaks out like that, goes full off the track. In the end, luckily I didn't even hit the wall. Otherwise, of course, it would have been completely finished. But yes, because of that the rest of your qualifying is obviously a bit ruined."

When Verstappen was then asked if he thinks he could have been on pole, he replied, "Yes, he could have, but then of course you don't have to have any damage. But that's very unfortunate of course. Just as I was coming [at Copse] it suddenly started raining hard for one lap. And the lap after that it was already better."

Verstappen doesn't want to make any predictions for the race yet: "We'll see for ourselves. We know that McLaren is obviously very strong in the race. They are always very good on the tyres is year. So they will be very strong. And hopefully of course we can fight with them."

This article was written in collaboration with Sophia Crothall.