Verstappen offers Perez defence after latest F1 struggle

Max Verstappen has jumped to the defence of Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez following his difficult outing during qualifying at Silverstone.

Perez suffered a spin in changeable conditions during the early stages of Q1, resulting in his session ending in the gravel.

The 24-year-old is set to start Sunday's British Grand Prix from 19th on the grid ahead of Pierre Gasly, who has taken a sizeable engine penalty.

When asked by media including RacingNews365 if he will be handicapped at Silverstone fighting rival teams by himself, Verstappen said: “I don't know, I try not to think about it. 

“At the end of the day, you always have to do it yourself, no one is going to help you in a race or whatever. 

“You have to really go out from your own strength and of course, it was super unfortunate to lose Checo in Q1.

“From my side [Sunday] is a new day where first of all, we have to wait and see what the weather will do.

“But I'm confident if we just have a clean car, let's say it like that, we can be in the mix. I'm not saying that we're going to be the quickest but at least when we are in the mix, there’s always something possible.”

Perez mistake 'unlucky'

Perez's early exit marked the fifth time in the last six races that he has failed to progress into the top 10 shootout during qualifying.

Verstappen labelled the situation as “unlucky” as he expressed confidence Perez had strong pace in hand before his off.

“Naturally, of course, you always want to two cars there, but honestly it was unlucky and unfortunate what happened,” he said.

“Yesterday when he jumped in the car in FP2, he looked decent. So it's a bit unfair to say that this weekend he's been off or whatever.

“I actually felt in FP2, he [looked] good. [In qualifying], with the conditions, it's tricky.”