On paper, this is a Mercedes weekend, with the British crowd primed to roar home Russell, Hamilton and Norris. On paper is exactly where Max Verstappen likes to prove people wrong.
Red Bull's 2026 pace deficit is real, and Silverstone's high-speed layout does not obviously suit the car. But Verstappen has spent years spoiling parties on enemy territory — dragging a car further up the road than it has any right to be, and turning a hostile grandstand quiet with a result nobody expected. He did a version of it in Austria, hauling Red Bull to second for a rare bright spot.
Nobody in the paddock is treating him as a genuine favourite here. But writing him off entirely, at a track where one bold strategy call or a chaotic Sprint can flip the order, would be a mistake his rivals have made before. If the home fans get their day, they will have to get it past the one driver most likely to try to take it from them.