San Francisco Frontiers - Verstappen laments 'really difficult' Silverstone fifth

The four-time world champion led in the early stages before being overhauled by the McLarens of championship leader Oscar Piastri and eventual race winner Lando Norris, dropped to 10th after a mid-race spin and then battled back to take fifth on the closing lap.

"That was really tough," he said.

"Yesterday (Saturday) was alright, but today was really difficult.

"From the beginning we didn't have the speed. At the restart, I spun. Then I got stuck in the midfield, and then I had no more speed, which is just not good."

"I did expect it to be a tricky race with this weather, but not that difficult and challenging," he added.

During the race he exclaimed that "this car is just so difficult to drive", a complaint heard from most of the drivers who have been his team-mate in recent times.

On Sunday, his current team-mate Yuki Tsunoda finished 15th.

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said: "The race was exciting, it always is in those conditions. For us, we took a bit of a gamble with the weather, expecting a dry race.

"But I think Max did really well. He stuck with it and he got unlucky at the restart. I'm not sure what happened with Oscar, but it put Max on the wrong part of the track and then he had the spin which put him down in the order.

"Once the circuit started to dry up, he managed to pick his way through the pack and it was a good recovery to P5. Not the result we were looking for."

Meanwhile Lewis Hamilton found some hope for the future after his run of 12 consecutive home race podiums ended when he finished fourth for Ferrari.

The seven-time world champion, who has won 15 times in all at Silverstone, was hoping his recent resurgence of form with Ferrari's revised car could enable him to finish again in the top three and for the first time with his new team.

But in a chaotic rain and accident-punctuated race he was beaten to the third podium spot by Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg.

"The car was unbelievably tricky to drive," said Hamilton.

"I think, ultimately, I learned a lot -- there's lots to take from the day. It’s only my second time driving in the wet in this car.

"I can't even express how hard it is. It's not a car that likes these conditions, but having lots of data to take from this gives me a chance to sit down with the people that are designing the car for next year because there are elements of this car that can go into it.

"It was the most difficult car I've driven here in these conditions – a difficult day for everybody I think, and not the result that I was hoping for."

E.Jones--SFF