Max Verstappen has offered an honest assessment of his and Red Bull’s performance at the Canadian GP.
Starting alongside George Russell, the F1 paddock was braced for a possible incident at the first corner at the Canadian GP.
However, Verstappen suffered an uncharacteristic poor start, his RB21 bogging down off the line. This allowed Russell to keep the lead, a lead he never relinquished.
Verstappen attempted to put the Briton under pressure in the opening laps. However, his pace began to fall away as his tyres started to degrade. His two attempts at undercutting Russell were unsuccessful, and traffic compromised the Dutchman in the closing stages. Once cleared, he could not catch Russell.
The late Safety Car triggered by Lando Norris’ crash with team-mate Oscar Piastri put an end to a final showdown, with the four-time world champion finishing in second place.
Speaking in Parc Ferme after the race, Max Verstappen summarised his afternoon, praising his car’s pace.
“Yeah, I think so. It was quite a good race even though I think the first two stints we were struggling quite a bit on the tyres so we were doing quite an aggressive strategy but luckily in that final stint we managed to hang in there and actually the pace was a bit better on the lower fuel load so that was good.
“I think we drove an attacking slash defending race so attacking with a strategy, defending of course with the cars behind but it worked out for us and I think that was the maximum possible for us today.“
Max Verstappen back in the championship hunt after the Canadian GP?
With Norris retiring, and championship leader Piastri finishing off the podium, Verstappen has reduced the gap to the Australian to just 49 points.
Asked if he is now thinking of the championship, Max Verstappen admitted he now has a fifth title firmly set in his sights.
“I do because it’s good points you made up on some on Piastri and a lot on Lando obviously. It’s a long season so you need to go race by race and we’ll always do the best we can.”
The next round in Austria, Red Bull’s home track, is a circuit Verstappen admits he is looking forward to returning to.
“Yeah, for sure. It’s always a great weekend there. We’ve had a lot of great results and hopefully we can have another strong weekend there.“
