“It may rain, of course, even though it’s summer in Britain! But I like those conditions and maybe we don’t mind if it starts raining, because that might shake things up.”
Speaking to Sky Sports F1 last week, Verstappen acknowledged the challenge that Mercedes will pose.
“I think it will be very hard, of course, to beat them,” he said.
“But I think it’s important for us now to understand where it went wrong and then, of course, correct it and try to learn from it and try to get it back on track.
“And as soon, of course, as you head into the right direction, then of course very quickly you can put a good amount of parts on the car – but first we need to really understand where the main critical problem is in the car.”
And Hamilton too is hopeful of some added competition this season, having emphatically seen off the challenge of Sebastian Vettel and Bottas in recent seasons.