Max Verstappen finally managed a clean race weekend and was on the podium in Canada. The Dutch driver finished third, behind Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) and Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes).
“The whole weekend we were very competitive and in the race, with the tyres we had, I think we maximised our strategy and we were very happy with the result. Every single weekend you go in you try to win and here practice has been good, Qualifying has been positive and the race went well too.”
“Of course, we’re very pleased with that and to come away with a podium and challenging for second at the end at this track, which is not ideal for us, is really positive”, Verstappen commented
“When you feel confident with the car then you can do a good job, and during the race, I think we managed the car in the best way possible on the hypersoft tyres. In this kind of race you have to manage a lot, fuel first of all, then also the tyres, you have the pressure from behind, you don’t want to let them into your DRS but one point I can see that I was pulling away quite comfortably so then I was challenging Valtteri at the end. So the race was in one way maybe a little bit boring but on the other hand, you needed full focus on doing a good job.”
“Seb was very fast and I could quickly feel that we were just lacking top speed. The tyres were holding on really well at the end when I was challenging Valtteri because he was fuel saving which shows our car was working well and for sure we have a very competitive car at the moment. I don’t think we can challenge for victories on every track, it just depends on how long the straights are but for now, I am looking forward to the upcoming races.”
Happy finishing 3rd! ? We had a good race. Thanks to @redbullracing the balance of the car was perfect, from the start to the last stint. I enjoyed it! #keeppushing #CanadianGP pic.twitter.com/XFVyAMYYbX
— Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) June 10, 2018
Daniel Ricciardo was 6th on the grid but 4th at the chequered flag. He said it was actually a pretty good race for him
“I don’t think I could have done much more. I know it’s fourth but I’m actually happy. Starting sixth I didn’t know how much to expect on this track as the reality is that it’s not that easy to overtake around here anymore. I’m really happy with what I did and what the team did. We went for the hypersoft knowing it was more aggressive and we knew we had to maximise the tyre at the beginning of the race which is what we did. We got Kimi [Raikkonen] on the start and then a nice overcut on Lewis [Hamilton], so I think we did everything we could”, Ricciardo explained.
“It wasn’t the smoothest weekend on my side of the garage, we had the upgraded engine but we had a few issues trying to get it calibrated, I think that’s the right word, even during the race it wasn’t that easy at times to manage tyres and wheel slip, so for that I think we did the best we could. The good thing is that Max’s engine seemed to be running well, so we have that as a reference moving to France. It’s probably the first time in a while that we have gained really good team points so it’s a good weekend from that perspective and also good for Max. I’m looking at the positives (laughs) we also took two points from Lewis so we’re still in the championship, we’re still there.”
Keep em rolling ? Another solid weekend from the lads with the second and third fastest pit stops of the #CanadianGP ?? #F1 pic.twitter.com/STxl54fJdT
— Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) June 12, 2018
