The opponents are confident because their deficit has been reduced, but Max Verstappen gently warns them: on a “poor” day for Red Bull, they won by “only” 10 seconds …
At the Canadian Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso’s main goal before Sunday’s race was to make a gap to Max Verstappen much smaller than the usual 20-30 seconds. He accomplished his mission, as he was tagged into second place, 9.6 seconds behind. Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton received 14.2 from the winner. This has been assessed by Mercedes and Aston Martin as the fact that, through the improvements that have been implemented, they have managed to get somewhat close to the dominant Red Bull.
After the race, Max Verstappen explained that the smaller than usual difference is due not only to the competitors, but also to the fact that Red Bull was not at the top at all …
It all started with the fact that they didn’t even feel like the favorites on Friday, the RB19 had problems with its driving ability, and this time their race pace was not clearly better than Ferrari’s, for example. According to Verstappen, they managed to turn that around on Saturday, but that didn’t make the race performance far from ideal.
“We made some changes to the car from Friday and I didn’t really know what to expect in the race. Luckily we were going in the right direction. It was very difficult to keep the tires in the right range today, it was always cold, so you had to push Strongly. With this kind of fist, it wasn’t the easiest and smoothest thing, but everything worked out just fine.”
“The tires were a bit of a constraint, and the hard rubber was more difficult to warm up. Our car always handled the tires nicely, and maybe a car that wears harder is better here, because that way it can stay warm. So maybe it wasn’t the best race today, but we’re what it is.” We still won it by nine seconds, which shows we have a great car.”
said the Dutchman.
He added that the current situation is somewhat unusual. “Normally the main thing is to keep the tyres, but now we have to pay more instead. There were times when lap times fluctuated. There were times when you couldn’t go to the limits because you didn’t know what you were going to get. I suffered a lot.” Hard rubber.Then in the middle I wanted to build up a little advantage.Then when there’s ten or fifteen laps left and you’ve got a good lead, you don’t want to take too much risk.I probably didn’t go full throttle, but I couldn’t relax too much, because the tire would have cooled Then.”
Compared to Red Bull worse, opponents improved
This put the opponents in their place. Ferrari, for example, by pointing out that the rubber-eating car could have had an exceptional advantage this weekend. The fact that the reds handled the tires well and had good racing speed is also due to the special conditions.
Verstappen also handled the improvement of Aston Martin with bookings.
“Well, for us, as I said, with the tire temperature and things like that, I don’t think it was our best day. That didn’t help. But I also know that they have improved with their developments. So they are definitely closer to us.”
the defending champion said when asked if he felt closer to Alonsos.
Max Verstappen leads the field after the start of the Canadian Grand Prix (Photo: XPB)Obviously, according to him, he wasn’t too concerned about the opponents’ proximity either. “I wasn’t worried, I was just on my toes, I kept watching if they were getting close or not and I was looking at what I should do because at the start of the race when Fernando passed Luis I was wondering what the pace would be and at the start he was fast. Then I was able to Set my pace accordingly.”
“It went really well on the hard tyres, at first, and I was able to build an advantage, and then I started to struggle a little bit on the tyres, so we kept talking to the engineers and I was watching the pit board to see what was going on. You can’t relax too much, especially because the tires were so cold. You had to put yourself out there all the way in. Particularly here, on the street course, where all it takes is one little mistake and you end up in the wall.”
In terms of catching up with the opponent, it’s probably best to wait another weekend or two for the verdict. Red Bull won by a smaller margin on a more difficult track and weekend. Team principal Christian Horner said with satisfaction: “This is a very special track and it is promising that we have taken this hurdle well.”
