Verstappen: Red Bull feels strong despite results

Max Verstappen remains confident Red Bull can fight for the top places at the Canadian Grand Prix despite dropping out of the top 10 following a near-miss with teammate Pierre Gasly.

During his qualifying-style run in FP2, Verstappen was forced to back off at the final chicane which sent him clipping into the Wall of Champions to wreck his lap.

Despite the truncated programme with a damaged wheel rim which forced the Dutch driver to pit early, he is content with the pace and progress his Red Bull squad has made at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve even without the lap times to show for it.

“I couldn’t finish the push lap in FP2 which was unfortunate. As I arrived at the last chicane I was in the wake of Pierre’s car and I understeered into the wall,” Verstappen said. “It’s a shame and we missed a bit of running but when we were running the pace was pretty decent.

“For me FP1 was fine and I felt good in the car. It maybe didn’t look easy from the outside in FP2 but from my side the car also felt good.”

“Of course we want to do better and I think the slippery track was also not in our favour today but the long runs look competitive, so I’m happy about that, even with the disrupted running and we just have fine tuning to do for tomorrow.”

Verstappen ended FP2 down in 13^th place, one spot behind Red Bull teammate Gasly, and 1.211s off timesheet-topper Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari.