Max Verstappen reveals huge downforce loss after ‘ripping the floor apart’

Max Verstappen says he lost as much as 100 points of downforce through damage he picked up to the floor of his Red Bull in qualifying for the F1 British Grand Prix. 

The reigning world champion was fourth-fastest in a wet-dry qualifying at Silverstone behind a British 1-2-3 as George Russell beat Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton to pole position.

Verstappen was unable to factor in the battle for pole after damaging the floor of his RB20 when he took a trip through the gravel at Copse in Q1 as rain started to fall.  

Asked how many points of downforce he lost, Verstappen replied: "Initially it was 100, which is a lot. A lot! We got it down a little bit. But it’s still a lot.”

Verstappen explained his off “ripped the floor apart” on his Red Bull.

“It was just super unlucky,” the Dutchman said. “I came out of 7, heading towards Copse, and it started to rain.

“So I knew that the people in front of me didn’t have that rain patch, and of course they were on slicks, and I knew in Q1 we needed that slick lap in, because you never know if it's going to rain more and the session is over.

“Naturally of course I tried to keep the speed up. I did slow down knowing it was raining on my visor, but it still snapped on me, and then I had to keep it out of the wall going off-line.

“But then I had to take the gravel which ripped the floor apart, missed quite a few bits on the car, even though I do think the team did a great job trying to recover some of the bits and tried optimise the balance front to rear.

“But yeah, it was, that basically ruined our qualifying. I was happy to be in Q3 already with the damage that we had. And to be P4 is probably a bit of a positive surprise.”

Verstappen confirmed Red Bull have a spare new floor for him to use for Sunday’s grand prix, where he hopes to be in the mix for victory.

“I hope it can be an exciting race,” he added. “Now we are probably a bit more on the attack, instead of starting first or second, but that’s fine.

“The people around me, we’re all very even on pace I guess. Naturally I do think McLaren is always very quick in the race and looking after their tyres. But I hope we can be in that mix, and make it difficult.”