Verstappen: We got lucky with P2

It was a character-building home race for Verstappen as he struggled throughout the weekend to get close to the McLarens and was as far as one second off the pace during practice, only for him to close the gap to two and a half tenths in qualifying after he once again dragged his RB21 to a position it shouldn't be in.

For the race, Red Bull Racing opted for a bold strategy and started Verstappen on Soft tyres hoping he could pass the McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Norris ahead, which were on Mediums.

Verstappen masterfully held a Lap 1 snap and passed Norris, but could not pass Piastri, as the former soon after passed him; despite having three Safety Car, three restarts, that is, the reigning Formula 1 Champion could not do anything to threaten the McLaren drivers.

"For me today, the highlight of the race was the first half when I was trying to get a spot and overtake," Verstappen said after the race. "It was good to initially get the overtake but after Lando passed me again.

"I knew we had to manage our tyres and our pace for the rest of the race and keep everyone behind. The car did snap a bit on the first lap and I felt like I was doing a bit of drifting as there was a lot of sand on turn two.

"Qualifying was a big step forward for us, but today it was a bit more difficult as we were struggling on the long runs and it was more of a fight behind me.

"We got lucky with P2 as we couldn't match the pace of the McLarens in the race and were struggling with the tyre behaviour and grip in the low speed.

"Despite this, I'm very happy for Isack to get his first podium: he had a fantastic weekend and good lap times and coming in as a rookie is always hard and he has done really well," Verstappen concluded.

Verstappen remains third in the 2025 F1 Drivers' Championship with 205 points and 104 points behind leader Piastri. He is 70 points behind Norris, who is second.