Max Verstappen praises ‘fast’ 23-podium driver in the cooldown room after the British Grand Prix

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The cooldown room after a Grand Prix is a fascinating insight into how each of the drivers on the podium saw the race.

Lewis Hamilton joined regular podium finishers Max Verstappen and Lando Norris after finally ending his long wait for a victory.

The seven-time world champion had some advice for Norris on what cost him victory at Silverstone.

They watched on as they saw several drivers struggling in the wet, including Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez who joined Charles Leclerc in making an awful strategy choice by going onto the intermediate tyres too soon.

Max Verstappen was heard on Sky Sports F1 praising one driver who didn’t achieve a top-three finish in the race.

Different drivers appeared to enjoy different phases of the race depending on the conditions and the tyres they were on.

Nico Hulkenberg nailed his strategy to convert his best qualifying performance of the season into another 6^th-place finish.

Both McLaren drivers looked rapid once the rain started and easily overtook their Mercedes rivals before the first round of pit stops.

However, Verstappen wanted to point out to Norris and Hamilton how fast Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz was during the Grand Prix.

The Spaniard – who has 23 F1 podiums during his career – quickly caught up to Verstappen at one stage of the Grand Prix.

Unfortunately for Sainz, he couldn’t challenge for another podium during the final stint of the race.

READ MORE: Red Bull driver Max Verstappen’s life outside F1 from net worth to girlfriend

Max Verstappen praises Carlos Sainz after the British Grand Prix

Debriefing about the race in the cooldown room, Verstappen said: “Carlos [Sainz] was fast in those laps!

“He was like five seconds behind me, maybe six, and then I look and the mirror and he’s behind me, wow!”

Sainz would have gone into Sunday’s race disappointed with how the earlier part of the weekend had gone.

He looked quick in qualifying but during the top ten shootout, he was seven-tenths behind George Russell on pole position.

Not only that, but he ended up starting on the fourth row behind Nico Hulkenberg’s Haas.

Ferrari’s customer team got the better of Sainz and Charles Leclerc – who didn’t even reach Q3 – and while he passed the Haas very quickly during the race, it’s a sign that things aren’t going to plan for the team since their big update package was delivered in Spain.

READ MORE: Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz’s life outside F1 from full name, girlfriend and height

Ferrari now being left behind by their title rivals after disappointing British Grand Prix

At the start of the season, Ferrari were Red Bull’s closest rivals and Sainz’s victory at the Australian Grand Prix when Verstappen retired with a technical issue showed how well he started the campaign.

Sainz was driving for his Formula 1 future after losing his seat to Lewis Hamilton but his form has dipped slightly in recent races.

That’s not entirely his fault as Ferrari have been caught up and overtaken by McLaren and Mercedes, although Charles Leclerc’s awful recent luck exaggerated just how badly things are going.

Ferrari’s rivals are unlikely to slow down on their developments for the upcoming races which means both Ferrari drivers having to revert back to old specs at Silverstone is an increasingly worrying development.