Verstappen brushes off Silverstone FP2 crash

Max Verstappen was quick to downplay his loss of track time during Formula 1 practice for the British Grand Prix on Friday after crashing out of the second session early on following an error.

Verstappen was sidelined in the final 10 minutes of FP1 due to a gearbox issue before crashing out on his third lap of the afternoon session, spinning into the barrier at Luffield and causing a red flag.

The Dutchman ended the day 19th in the final timesheets after failing to record a lap time in FP2. While he explained that the crash was simply the result of pushing too hard, too soon, Verstappen said he still felt in good shape heading into the remainder of the weekend.

“I think I wanted to be too quick on the hard tyre, so I just lost it. Unfortunately the way you hit the wall, it just rips off the entire rear,” Verstappen said.

“At the end of the day it’s not ideal to lose the second session, but the feeling I had before was actually quite good, so I think balance wise we’re not too far off. We’re losing a lot of lap time on the straight. 

“I always feel good around this track. Of course it’s better to drive a lot, but I feel confident. Already in FP1 with the harder tyres I think the pace was good.

“FP3 is still long enough to get [a long run] in, so I’ll get some information from that, and I know I have Daniel [Ricciardo]’s data, so it should be alright.”

Red Bull F1 team boss Christian Horner said the damage sustained by Verstappen's car was not as bad as feared, but admitted he was frustrated to see one of his cars sidelined for the bulk of the session.

"The damage isn’t too bad, to be honest with you, and it’s not a race gearbox. It’s just annoying to lose that much time in second practice," Horner said.

"On that Hard tyre he got into a slide, it looked like he gripped up. It looked like a motorcycle high-side, it just chucked the car in the other direction.

"It's annoying and frustrating, but we still got some good data from Daniel’s car."