Baffled Max Verstappen makes Canadian GP ‘chaos’ prediction | F1 | Sport
Max Verstappen declared himself completely confused after a difficult qualifying session in Montreal. The Dutchman ended up sixth on the timesheets which didn’t look like a bad result considering he had spent the entire hour complaining about the lack of grip and confidence he had in his Red Bull.
He moaned throughout about his struggles to warm up the tyres and at one point said over the radio that it was “like driving on ice” – though he was not the only one who found tyre warm-up tricky in the conditions. In the end, he didn’t have much to say about what happened in qualifying beyond how strange it all was for him.
Asked what he was feeling after the session, Verstappen said: “I don’t know, that’s the honest answer: I have no idea what’s going on. Everything is so confusing. The set-up changes that we made I also didn’t like, so it was very difficult. It’s very confusing, everything.”
Those set-up changes he was referring to may leave him in a strong position on Sunday as Red Bull appeared to gamble on there being some rain during the Grand Prix and set-up their cars accordingly. But when asked for his thoughts about what may lay ahead in the race, all Verstappen was willing to predict was: “It’s going to be chaos. We’ll see.”
His team-mate Isack Hadjar was also downbeat, but for difference reasons. He actually felt much happier with his car but was frustrated that he could not get more out of it than seventh place on the grid, and spent his post-qualifying interview berating himself for making too many errors which are costing him at the moment.
The Frenchman fumed: “I’m very upset because somehow, since Miami in Q3, I’m just not delivering and I make mistakes. I’m not sharp enough on those final laps in Q3 and I overdrive it and there’s lap time going away. It’s a shame, because we had a very brilliant car and I should be up there, so I’m very disappointed.
“It’s a combination of things. Our car is not the easiest to drive. It’s definitely on a fine edge and, also, we’ve driven like twice in eight weeks so it’s hard to stay sharp. It’s also wanting too much. It’s about disconnecting a bit more and not thinking, which is something I’m not very good at. I like thinking and being in control, but today it wasn’t helpful at all.”
George Russell took pole position, pipping his team-mate Kimi Antonelli at the very end with a superb lap which was enough to secure a third-consecutive pole in Montreal. Lando Norris qualified third but conceded McLaren will likely need the rain to fall to have any chance of beating Mercedes over a Grand Prix distance.
