Max Verstappen believes payback for Austria was one of the motives driving Charles Leclerc, but ultimately Red Bull had the edge over Ferrari at Silverstone.

As the battle at the front between Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas fizzled out, it was the Dutchman and the Monegasque reigniting their feud from Spielberg which providing the entertainment at the British Grand Prix.

The pair would go back and forth multiple times in some of the toughest battles seen all season with Leclerc declaring it his "most enjoyable" F1 race, and Verstappen had a smile on his face too.

“They were good. I think he was a little bit sore still from Austria so he was defending really hard, but that’s fine I’m all for that,” he said via Crash.net post-race.

“I didn’t want to take many risks in those battles to damage the car because I knew we were quite a bit faster, so I just needed to pick my moment.

“Luckily the team did it for me with a good strategy and then it was looking all good for a good result.”

It "was looking good" because it didn't end quite as the Red Bull driver hoped, as he was punted off from behind by Sebastian Vettel moments after passing the German at Stowe.

However, Max took the positives from what would be his eventual fifth-place finish.

“We were clearly faster than Ferrari in the race,” he said. “Mercedes, I never really had clear laps, and I think Lewis was really quick, but in general I think we could have definitely finished second or third today.

Outlining some of the issues that resulted from him flying over the sausage kerb after the Vettel collision, he continued: “The power steering more or less failed so it was quite a hard work out for me.

"The seat popped out so it was moving around a lot and the floor was quite badly damaged. The car was not what it should have been but of course still happy to be fifth.”