Following a “messy” opening two days of the Canadian Grand Prix weekend, Max Verstappen has demanded adjustments from Red Bull with regard to its trackside operations.
Verstappen’s RB20 experienced an ERS issue on Friday, which caused him to miss the majority of FP2. The car did not perform well in FP3, although he did win the first leg of qualifying on a weather-affected Friday in Montreal.
After setting the exact same time as pole-sitter George Russell, who produced the fastest lap of 1:12.000, the world champion finished second on the grid.
Verstappen, who finished Q2 0.807 seconds slower than Russell, explained that he thought the team would never be able to beat the Mercedes on a very difficult weekend.
“In general, I think it wasn’t a bad qualifying, probably Q3 was the weakest of the sessions for Mercedes, so being on the exact same lap time is great,” Verstappen told media including RacingNews365.
“But looking back, I’ll come in second when you consider their sheer speed. I was like, “There is no way that I can do something like that,” after seeing their lap times after the second round.
Naturally, there was a little bit of rain in between, a few spits here and there, but this weekend has been chaotic on our end as well—too many small problems.
“From that point on, we naturally looked for the best balance we could get with the vehicle. In qualifying, our balance was rather good.
“I was really pleased with it. However, it will benefit us if we can merely have trouble-free, cleaner weekends.”
Verstappen’s issues with Canada
Last time out in Monaco, the RB20 struggled badly over the kerbs and bumps, long-term problems Verstappen felt had been masked by the dominance of the team over the past two seasons.
Whilst improvements and the track layout have soothed the problems, Verstappen still felt the underlying issues remained.
“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 and mechanical grip,” he added.
“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.
“We need to just work on that, but that’s why I think to be P2 here is alright.”
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