After winning the Canadian Grand Prix, Max Verstappen increased his lead in the individual championship over Charles Leclerc to 56 points. At a press conference after the finish, the Red Bull Racing driver summarized the weekend’s results and said the car would become noticeably faster once the curb attack issue was resolved.
Question: Max, it was an exciting and spectacular race. How valuable is this victory?
Max Verstappen: Yes, very valuable. The race was not easy, it was easy to make mistakes, especially on the intermediate tires when they almost turned into slicks. It was easy to fly off the track as the asphalt dried for most of the lap. But in some corners it was still too wet to switch to slicks, so it was very difficult to drive.
But racing like that is fun. I wouldn’t want this kind of weather conditions to happen regularly while racing because it’s too stressful, but I had a lot of fun.
Q: You said the race was stressful. A lot happened on the track, but how relaxed did you feel in the cockpit?
Max Verstappen: I was as focused as possible, but at the same time I tried to remain calm as much as possible. I also kept in constant contact with the pit wall to stay informed about the condition of the track. I think as a team we made the right decisions and that was very important.
Q: You made the right decisions, but the safety car played into your hands. Do you see this as payback for Miami?
Max Verstappen: Of course the safety car sometimes works in your favor and sometimes against you. This time it worked in our favor, allowing us to say we are 1-1 this season. This is racing, and these kinds of factors are part of it.
Question: Do you think you will be stronger in the next stage in Barcelona?
Max Verstappen: Hope so. The last few races proved to be quite difficult, not only in themselves, but also due to the large number of problems we encountered during the weekend. We must have a clean weekend.
On tracks like those in Canada we have serious problems with bumps and curb attacks. There is certainly room for improvement in this area. If we can do this, the car will become noticeably better.
Q: Are you concerned that if you fix the curb issues you will lose the RB20’s strengths?
Max Verstappen: I am confident that we can solve this problem without affecting other parts of the machine. We know that the curb attack is a weak point and the team is doing everything they can to fix this problem. I really feel like this problem is severely limiting us right now.
Therefore, it makes sense that I wait for circuits that do not have many bumps and where there is no need to hit curbs. You’ve seen that every weekend so far… Some teams are stronger than us on certain tracks, and in a way this makes the battle even more exciting.
Question: You won the race, but you earned the most points in McLaren. How do you see the battle in the Constructors’ Championship in the second half of the year?
Max Verstappen: I think we suffered damage in Canada during qualifying. I’m talking about Sergio. In such weather conditions it is very difficult to recover after starting from the last positions. I saw that he stopped due to car damage, so I knew I had to earn a lot of points so that the other teams couldn’t make much of a comeback.
If we keep winning and earn 25 points, even if everyone else finishes second and third, we won’t lose that much, so we can afford these isolated cases.
Of course you always want to finish with two cars on the podium, and I have no doubt that the situation will change soon. We just have to keep working on the car so that it becomes easier and more comfortable. Then I’m sure that both cars will show the same results as at the start of the season.
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
