Breaking Mercedes's Domination, Verstappen Rises To Second Place In The Standings

JAKARTA - Max Verstappen successfully broke Mercedes's winning streak this season. At the Grand Prix of the 70th Anniversary of Formula 1 at Silverstone Circuit, England, Sunday, August 9 evening, the Red Bull racer was the best.

Verstappen started the race on hard compound tires, the opposite strategy to Mercedes using medium in the two leading starting slots.

Pirelli this time brought a softer tire compound in anticipation of a number of tire burst incidents such as the one at the British Grand Prix at the same circuit where Hamilton won the race dramatically with the left front tire breaking to the finish.

Verstappen knew his chance to take advantage of the difference in tires was to get off to a good start and he did so by passing Racing Point car Nico Hulkenberg for third in the first corner.

From there, Verstappen continued to press the Mercedes duet in the first stint of the 52-lap race. He was even instructed by the team to restrain himself.

The pressure finally paid off as the two Mercedes cars found blisters in their tires while trying to keep their speed up. Verstappen was able to keep tire degradation to a minimum to secure a first win for Red Bull this season, and a win in England since winning at Silverstone in 2012.

"I don't think so," said Verstappen as quoted by Antara, Monday.

"But after the first stint, we seemed to be very good with the tires. Of course, there was a question mark: 'how did Mercedes go on those hard tires?'

"But we were very fast with this car, I didn't have much of a problem with the tires, we kept pressing. It was a great result winning here, it was a great day, everything worked very well, we had the right strategy, everything went well and I'm so glad I won. "

This result means Verstappen has won three of its nine wins in Formula 1 from fourth starting position. This shows the extraordinary strategy of the Red Bull team and the determination of the Dutch racer.

Now Verstappen has moved up to second place in the standings, 30 points adrift of Hamilton who is at the top after five races.

The sixth series will be held next week at the Barcelona-Catalunya Circuit, Spain.