Max Verstappen sends Red Bull plea as tense 'battle' looms

Max Verstappen has hinted that he expects to spend the Silverstone sprint race looking over his shoulder as he fights to hold on to his position.

The Dutchman will line up third on the grid for Saturday’s race, behind front-row starters Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Antonelli.

Verstappen was unable to match the pace of Hamilton and Antonelli in sprint qualifying, with the pair finishing more than three tenths of a second clear of the Red Bull driver.

The 28-year-old does not expect that deficit to disappear overnight and believes his primary focus in the sprint will be defending his place in the top three.

“They look a bit quick, they look quick so normally team-mate related, they should be quick in race pace if everything calms down a little bit,” he said.

“So for me, it will be more of a battle with the guys behind me.”

With parc fermé conditions in place, teams are unable to make substantial changes to their cars until after the sprint race takes place.

But Verstappen is already sounding out what improvements he would like to be made ahead of Saturday's qualifying session.

“For us, probably the outcome of SQ3 was... I mean, it was very close. It could easily have been P3 or P6, P7,” he said.

“We were on the good side, so we were a bit closer.

“I think we are still not where we want to be. Cornering, maybe a tiny bit but also deployment. A few things to figure out to try and find more lap time.

“We’ll try to do that after the sprint.”