Following a moment of rage at the F1 Spanish GP just under two weeks ago, Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen heads into the Canadian round looking to redeem himself and avoid picking up a race ban.
His 10-second penalty in Spain that saw him drop to P10 leaves him 49 points behind championship leader Oscar Piastri.
The problems Yuki Tsunoda is facing and Red Bull lacking pace
Not for the first time in 12 months, Max Verstappen recently defended his teammate following criticism of the performance from Yuki Tsunoda since he joined the team.
In 2024 even the brilliance of Max Verstappen could not hide the reality of their troubles with last year’s car as the campaign went on. High tyre degradation hurt their race pace many times.
While Red Bull Racing has generally lacked the race pace and tyre degradation of McLaren this year once again, the four-time World Champion says the car is better balanced in 2025.
Nonetheless, some limitations still exist as he explained in his print media session.
“Yeah, I mean, this is of course always difficult for my side to fully understand the difficulties of [Yuki Tsunoda].
“But yeah, I mean, I do think already compared to last year, we did make our car more drivable. We don’t have these big issues in terms of balance.
“I think now also we are just lacking a bit of the overall performance compared to like McLaren.
“And of course we know some of our weaknesses, the low speed, the kerbs, bumpy surfaces is not ideal for us.
“So I think we’re headed in the right direction compared to last year. Now we just need to find a bit more overall performance.”
Max Verstappen expecting McLaren to be too quick at F1 Canadian GP
With eight rounds done in 2025, McLaren have won six races, with Max Verstappen taking victories at Suzuka and Imola.
As has been the case quite often since Miami last year, the Woking-based team has the benchmark car in the sport now. Their race pace and tyre management is clearly a step above the rest most weekends. A second consecutive Constructors’ Championship looks very likely, with Piastri and Norris duelling for the Drivers’ Championship.
Asked about his hopes of a fourth straight win in Montreal, Max Verstappen was quick to focus on Mercedes and Ferrari. He believes McLaren are out of reach.
George Russell took pole position last year and finished P3, with Lewis Hamilton 4th on the Sunday. In both qualifying and the race when it was dry, Mercedes looked to be the fastest.
Two consecutive podiums for Charles Leclerc means Ferrari cannot be discounted either according to the Dutchman.
“Yeah, I mean, a bit different this time around. But I think if we can fight for a podium, fighting with Ferrari, Mercedes, I think that already would be a good achievement.
“They [McLaren] go fast everywhere. It’s not even in my head [to fight for the win].
“I’m more focusing on the other teams. I know that last year, for example, Mercedes was very strong here. I think if you compare last year to now, I think maybe they’re a bit more competitive as well.
“So it will be hard enough, I think, to already fight for a podium.”
