Verstappen has been nursing hand injury at F1 British GP

The world championship leader was spotted with a bandage on his right hand after securing pole position at Silverstone on Saturday.

Speaking about what had happened, the Dutchman said he had somehow managed to hurt a finger on the day before track action began.

“I just sprained my finger a little bit,” he explained after qualifying. “My hand has been bothering me a little bit. Today it was better, but I couldn't quite squeeze it properly at first. But that's totally okay now.”

Verstappen said he was unsure about what had caused the injury in the first place as there was no obvious cause.

“I don't know exactly,” he said. “It was on Thursday morning. Maybe I just placed my hand in a wrong way or pushed in a wrong way. Very weird.”

While the pain had been noticeable out on track on the opening day of action, Verstappen said that there was no impact on his performance in the car – and was sure everything would be okay for the British GP race itself.

“The adrenaline kicks in then, anyway,” he said about the race. “When I'm driving, I don't think about it too much either. Yesterday it was a little harder, but today was pretty okay.”

Pole man Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, Lando Norris, McLaren, talk in Parc Ferme after Qualifying

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

Verstappen will start the British GP ahead of McLaren driver Lando Norris, with whom he is good friends.

And having been clearly delighted to have seen Norris produce his best qualifying performance of the season so far, Verstappen explained how close the links are to the Briton.

Asked about why he was so happy to see Norris there, Verstappen said: “It’s because we get along well. Oscar, of course, I don't know very well yet. He’s like the next generation. We never came across each other in karting too.

“But with Lando, I have got along very well for a while already. Also because we have more or less the same attitude to life, which is just very relaxed.

“He's also just really nice. And I just know how good he is. So yeah, nice to see him qualify like that.”