Following a ‘below-par’ run in Monaco, Max Verstappen continued his poor performance in this week’s practice sessions as well. He struggled in the first two qualifying rounds yesterday. Luckily, the Dutchman managed to turn the tides around in the last minute.
Regarding this, the Red Bull driver had some interesting words to say in the post-quali briefing at Montréal.
Max Verstappen confirms he’s ‘not stressed’ after qualifying P2
As the race weekend started, Max Verstappen struggled with unexpected runs in the pre-race sessions. In the FPs, he managed to be in the top-three only once: P5 (1:26.502) in FP1, P18 (1:19.311) in FP2, and P2 (1:12.923) in FP3.
Disaster continued in qualifying as he landed in a different situation. In Q1 and Q2, the reigning F1 champ fell short of ‘table-topper’ George Russell’s lap time of 1:11.742.
However, Verstappen really delivered his best when it mattered the most. As the last minute approached, he equalled the Mercedes man’s lap time of 1:12.000. With the Briton setting this time first, the Red Bull driver had to settle for the P2 spot.
In the post-quali conference, he expressed that it was a “good qualifying” for him in overall. However, he also admitted the race weekend was highly “tricky” for him. Speaking about this, he said,
“I mean, it’s how it is, right? I think overall we still had a good qualifying. The whole weekend has been still a bit tricky for us.”
“But, to be P2, I’ll take it. I mean, going into qualifying, I would have definitely taken that. So that it was that close at the end, yeah, makes it really exciting for tomorrow as well.”
Moreover, he confessed that Red Bull “didn’t have a great build-up” leading up to the qualifications. Bringing up his stint at Monaco, he explained,
“I mean, I felt good in Monaco, but it was just not our track. It was not happening for us. This weekend, again, we didn’t have a great build-up to today.”
“But, yeah, I think it will be quite an interesting race with the tyres tomorrow, how they are going to fare, the weather as well. It keeps on coming in and out, the rain. So, yeah, hopefully it will be very exciting.”
“We’ll think about it. I’m not that stressed about it.”
He admits the weekend was ‘messy’ with ‘too many little issues’ from Red Bull
While he managed to grab P2 in his last lap, Mercedes’ George Russell topped all the rounds. Talking about the Silver Arrows, he added:
“In general, I think it wasn’t a bad qualifying. I think what was mentioned before, probably Q3, was the weakest of the sessions for Mercedes. So, you know, being on the exact same lap time, yeah, it’s great, but in hindsight, I think when you look at their pure pace, I’ll take second. Because after Q2, I saw their lap times, I was like, ‘there is no way that I can do something like that’.“
“And then, yeah, from there onwards, we tried to, of course, find the best possible balance with the car. I think we did get a decent balance in qualifying. I was quite happy with it. But, yeah, we need to be able to just have cleaner weekends without issues. And I think that will help a bit as well.“
Quizzed on whether the RB20 is better in Montréal than Monaco, he confessed that Red Bull is “still struggling with the same things”. However, he acknowledged that the iconic Circuit Gilles Villeneuve isn’t as punishing as the Monégasque track. Explaining this, he further added,
“Well, we’re still struggling with the same things, but of course, the track layout helps compared to Monaco, where Monaco has a lot more low-speed, so it’s really important to have good ride, mechanical grip.”
“Here, of course, there’s more aero involved. Of course, there are a few places still where you need to ride kerbs or you have bumpy places, but we know those limitations, so we need to just work on that. But that’s why I think in general, to be P2 here is alright.”
Backing up Russell’s claim, he explained that the qualification run was very challenging in the wet/dry track. Adding more, he quoted:
“Yes, same, like George just mentioned, with the tyres, it’s a bit tricky with the graining and maybe some rain in between. So, yes, a lot of question marks and you just need to get going and see what happens.”
During the interview, he put forth his thoughts about Mercedes’ ‘sudden revival’ in the quali. Speaking about the Germans’ pace, he explained,
“Well, I think in general, when you look at the whole grid, there are quite a few surprises, like good surprises and bad surprises. So, yeah, it just shows that everyone is closing up and it’s really details that make the difference.”
“Maybe you understand tyres better. You know, of course, certain weaknesses from your car and probably other teams have their own weaknesses, you know, so you just need to play that as well and take that into account, you know, with certain track layouts. But it’s good for Formula 1.”
Verstappen hopes for an ‘exciting race’ with the rain forecast making it ‘bit of a different challenge’
With rain forecasted for the race, a reported was curious about the current Champion’s views of driving in the rain.
“I think all of us, we had a lot of time driving in the wet since we grew up, being from the UK and from Holland! I think in general, you are naturally a bit more confident driving in the wet. It’s a bit of a different challenge.”
“Of course, nowadays with our cars, it’s quite hard to see when it’s raining a lot, so we don’t always get to race in the full wet conditions. If it’s like a little bit of rain tomorrow, even if it comes in and out, it might actually make it really, really interesting.”
“And I think around here, you know, the chicanes, new tarmac can make it very slippery and if you make a tiny mistake, you know, the walls are very close as well. So you have to take that into account. But yeah, hopefully we’ll have an exciting race tomorrow.”
As for now, Max Verstappen and the Red Bull squad is preparing to takover the Montréal track with a ‘pole-position’ run. As things stands, the Dutchman will start the 2024 Canadian GP from P2, whilst Sergio Pérez will make the run from P16.
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