Max Verstappen was consistently close to eventual winner George Russell in the Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday, but was never able to attack the Mercedes driver. The Red Bull driver looked back realistically on the race in Montreal and was happy with second place.
Verstappen spoke of a defensive race, in which he had to look in his mirrors more than forward. Kimi Antonelli with the second Mercedes was always close. “He almost overtook me a few times, but then we always dived inside,” Verstappen recalled.
The fact that Verstappen had to pit early twice was mainly due to the condition of his tires. “We suffered quite a bit from tires that were getting too hot. It was really a matter of managing. The gap to George wasn’t that big, but we never had the speed to do anything. I was mainly concerned with maintaining my position.”
So a second place was the maximum achievable and the result of a race maximized according to Verstappen. Satisfaction prevailed after the reigning champion was already able to compete at the front from the free practice sessions. “I hope we can start like this every weekend.”
‘The car really needs to be better’
Even then, according to Verstappen, that is not enough to start thinking about the title fight again, even though he snatched a few points from Oscar Piastri’s lead. “The car really needs to be better if we want to be fast everywhere. McLaren was also not as fast here as normal of course. But on other tracks it really has to be better if we want to get close.”
The recipe for really breathing new life into his season is clear according to Verstappen: “We have to start winning races again. How do we do that? By being more competitive. This was a good weekend, but not competitive enough. We have our moments, but if we get the car faster, we make it much easier for ourselves. Even then, McLaren remains difficult to beat, they are by far the favorites.”
No animosity with Russell
Verstappen also has to look behind him in the World Championship standings, as Russell gained seven points with his victory at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Although the two have increasingly been presented as rivals in recent weeks, the atmosphere afterwards was amicable. Verstappen also didn’t make too much of a small incident behind the late safety car, in which Russell suddenly stood on his brakes.
“I think George wanted the safety car to go faster, because it was driving very slowly. Then he stepped on his brakes a bit too hard. It is what it is,” he explained in conversation with Viaplay.
The Limburger also had nice words for Kimi Antonelli, who joined Russell and Verstappen as the third youngest podium finisher ever. Verstappen himself is the record holder. He already saw the rise of the eighteen-year-old Italian coming.
“I saw Kimi coming up on the karts, he showed beautiful things,” said Verstappen. “So I kept an eye on that. He is fast and has a calm approach, those are important qualities. That podium in his first season doesn’t surprise me at all. He only gets better. We will see a lot more of Kimi in the coming years.”