Max Verstappen admitted surprise at Red Bull Racing’s performance at the Formula 1 Canadian GP, where he achieved his first podium of the season. The four-time world champion stated that he did not expect to finish in the top three after the difficulties faced by the team in previous races.
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The Dutchman started only from sixth position on the grid but managed to gain positions quickly during the race in Montreal. McLaren’s mistaken strategy, which started the race on intermediate tires before bringing forward the stops, along with George Russell’s retirement, helped Verstappen enter the fight for the top positions.
Even finishing third after losing second place to Lewis Hamilton in the final laps, the Red Bull driver was satisfied with the result. Verstappen highlighted that the race scenario ended up favoring the team in a weekend considered complicated.
“To be honest, I felt better with the car in Miami, so I am a bit surprised to be on the podium here,” Verstappen said. “But you also have to look at George’s retirement and McLaren messing up the strategy. For me, being here is something that makes me very happy.”
The Dutch driver explained that he performed better before making his only pit stop. According to him, the RB22 showed greater competitiveness with the soft tires, while the behavior with the medium tires made driving quite difficult during the second half of the race.
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“With the soft tires we were a bit more competitive. Then, with the mediums, I didn’t feel we could get the tire into the ideal operating window,” the Dutchman commented.
Verstappen stated that the lack of grip made the stint more complicated and opened space for Hamilton to close in during the final laps of the race. Still, the four-time world champion highlighted that Red Bull managed to maximize the result under conditions considered difficult throughout the weekend.
“The tire simply wasn’t working the right way for us, so that stint was more complicated to find grip. But still, we did a good job. For us, achieving the first podium of the season is very positive and I am very satisfied with that in quite complicated conditions,” concluded the four-time world champion.
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