Formula 1 in Great Britain: Not even Mercedes’ improvements succeed with an overwhelming Verstappen

The last workout in British Grand Prixtenth test of Formula 1, he left a strong conclusion: Max Verstappen he is the best driver on the current grid and with that Red Bull can make fun of his rivals.

So he did in free practice before the classification, which will start at 11 in Argentina (Star +), with his rivals almost half a secondincluding his teammate, Checo Pérez, who improved on Friday’s performance to take second place.

Even if they weren’t on the podium, because Charles Leclerc, the Dutchman’s closest rival for the title, put Ferrari in third place, where they celebrated at Mercedes. “There is nothing rebounding,” said George Russell 22 minutes into the session and the paddock was all smiles.

After suffering so much from that consequence of the ground effect and seeing their champion, Lewis Hamilton, get out of the car in pain, they seem to have found a solution to this problem in the two weeks of work since the Canadian GP. And they took the liberty of celebrating it on social media.

Although in that first part it was not yet known whether Verstappen, Hamilton or Leclerc would have made the “1”, given the parity of the three, the reigning champion has improved all records and with that of 1: 27.901 was the first, too far for everyoneincluding Pérez, at 410 thousandths, and the Monegasque, at 447. Surprisingly, behind them were the Mercedes, which are improving day after day a car that started the season very badly.

Although Hamilton finished with some rebounds, due to some configuration changeshis best time was enough for him to be just over half a second behind Verstappen (0.587), very close but behind Russell (525 thousandths behind Verstappen). Carlos Sainz, on the other hand, was the only one who couldn’t come close to those numbersfinishing sixth at 788.

The big bet now, apart from who will take pole, is whether or not it will rain during qualifying. The drops ran out during the last batch of preparation. “There will be rain,” Ferrari said. “Rain is not expected”, contradicted – almost instantly – Aston Martin, while Checo Pérez spoke of some “droplets” half an hour from the end.

Excellent also the performance of Mick Schumacher, who chased away the ghosts of the beginning of the season with two crashes that put Haas in difficulty and was ninth at 1.609 behind Verstappen but much better than his teammate, Kevin Magnussen, who closed the partials with the worst record. Among the top 10 also Lando Norris (7th, McLaren), Valtteri Bottas (8th, Alfa Romeo) and Fernando Alonso (10th, Alpine).