Max Verstappen says he had to drive a defensive race despite an aggressive strategy in order to prevent Mercedes securing a one-two finish in the Canadian Grand Prix.
George Russell led from pole position and came under pressure from Verstappen in the early phase of the race, but then the Dutchman dropped away and was in the process of being overtaken by Kimi Antonelli when he made his first pit stop. During the second pit stop phase, Verstappen also had Antonelli alongside him at pit exit, but Verstappen kept ahead after both stops, keeping him ahead and he feels second place was the maximum possible result.
“It was quite a good race even though I think the two stints we were struggling quite a bit on the tires,” Verstappen said. “So we were doing quite an aggressive strategy, but luckily in that final stint, we managed to hang in there and actually the pace was a bit better on the bit lower fuel load. So that was good.
“I think we drove an attacking/defending race – attacking with a strategy, defending of course with the cars behind. But it worked out for us and I think that was the maximum possible for us.
“The first two stints, I was struggling a lot with the tires. Just too much degradation again. So we drove quite a defensive race, to be honest, because basically two times, Kimi was about to overtake me, and we boxed. So that worked out quite well for me.
“We did a very aggressive strategy. I think the last pit stop, I was a bit worried if I was going to make it to the end competitively because on the hard tire in the second stint, I was already struggling as well. So I think just a lighter fuel load helped a bit. But the gap wasn’t that big towards George, and I never really felt like I had the pace to do anything.
“It was more about just looking in the mirror, trying to maintain that gap, try to look after my tires to not overstress them. It was not the easiest race, but I think as a team we managed it well.
“I think we definitely optimized everything we could because, honestly, throughout the whole race, I never really felt like I was actually holding on to second. So, we did a good job. I mean, the whole weekend, I think the car was reasonable. Strategy-wise, we did the best we could.”
Verstappen was still able to take points out of the top two in the championship with Oscar Piastri finishing fourth and Lando Norris retiring, but he believes Red Bull needs to upgrade its car to outscore McLaren regularly.
“I hope that we can start every weekend like this in terms of how I feel with the car, but overall, we do need more performance to be quick everywhere. I also think that this weekend was a bit, I won’t say an off weekend, but McLaren wasn’t as strong as normal. And, of course, we benefited a little bit.
“But if we go to all the other tracks now coming up, we definitely need more performance to even be close to them. This has been a good weekend for us, but we need a lot more to be able to fight with them for the whole season.”
