Max Verstappen thanks F1 rival after British GP moment and wants to take him for dinner

Max Verstappen thanked Kimi Antonelli for a tow during qualifying at the British Grand Prix, helping him on his way to a remarkable pole position. The Dutchman proposed a pasta dinner for the Mercedes driver's troubles in a light-hearted interview. The fight for pole position looked to be a shootout between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri for McLaren, and Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc for Ferrari.

However, those who made the error of counting out the reigning world champion were made to look silly, as the four-time world champion put together one of the best laps of the year to secure an unexpected P1 grid slot. Verstappen's special effort was boosted by some help from an unexpected source. "He helped me a little bit on my lap," he told Sky Sports F1. "Kimi gave me a bit of a tow. We're gonna eat pasta together."

Antonelli's assistance was surprising, given his team-mate's vested interest in Verstappen's results. George Russell, who is fighting to secure his long-term Mercedes future, is only nine points behind the reigning world champion in the Drivers' Championship standings heading into his home race.

However, the tow may also suffice as an apology for the drama that played out in Austria. On the opening lap of the bout at the Red Bull Ring, Antonelli locked up his rear tyres at Turn Three, ploughing into the side of Verstappen's RB21, taking both drivers out of the race.

Verstappen was understanding in his post-race approach to the crash, writing it off as a rookie error, and Antonelli's qualifying aid will no doubt have sweetened the deal. The 27-year-old can now focus on clawing back points in his title fight with Piastri and Norris.

However, while Saturday's result was a highlight, the Dutchman is having to scrap for every point at the moment. "We looked a bit slow yesterday on the other wing, plus I was just understeering to the moon, so I had to try and reduce that understeer, and it seemed to work," he explained, delving into the changes Red Bull made overnight.

"It was very difficult to balance and today we definitely improved the understeer and that just allowed me to push a bit more because I think it just caught us out yesterday, which we didn't expect to happen, so then you need to work around with the tools that you have and luckily we went in the right direction with it."

Team principal Christian Horner was quick to credit the Red Bull team for orchestrating a Friday-to-Saturday comeback at Silverstone. "The engineering team has done a great job overnight, they've worked hard on the car," he told Sky Sports F1. "We've added a bit of performance to the car, and we've balanced it. It's tricky conditions with the gusting weather around here, but all credit to Milton Keynes. Max has delivered as he always does, so good performance."