After Delivering a Massive Milestone, Max Verstappen Rattles Red Bull With an Alarming Observation

Red Bull continued its dominance in the latest edition of this season’s world tour. While the Canadian GP looked like a dominant win from the outside, Max Verstappen wasn’t too pleased with the car’s performance. Red Bull is used to winning races by at least a 20-second margin, so the 9.5-second gap to Fernando Alonso in P2 raised eyebrows. Even so, Verstappen and Red Bull’s win in Montreal was historic for more than one reason.

Going into the Canadian GP, Red Bull was looking to achieve its 100th win as a constructor in F1. Given the nature of Circuit Gilles Villeneuve with its long straights, it suited Red Bull, and Verstappen was on top of his game the entire weekend, giving Red Bull its much-anticipated win, even with the less-than-ideal conditions. The Dutchman equaled Ayrton Senna’s 41-race win record with this win, slotting his name in the record books again. But the race wasn’t easy for him by any standards.

Tire temperature was Max Verstappen’s biggest competitor during the race

While Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton were fighting it out for P2 in his rear-view mirrors, Verstappen was fighting his tires to get them up to temperature, especially the hard compound. They didn’t seem to work on either Red Bull, cutting short Sergio Perez’s first stint on them. 

With the combination of cool track temperatures and Red Bull’s slow degradation rate (which is ideal in most cases), the tires weren’t heating up enough to go through their heat cycle, limiting Verstappen from increasing the gap to his competitors. In a post-race interview, he said, as quoted by motorsport-total.com, “It was pretty difficult today to keep the tires in the right window. They were always pretty cold. We had to push pretty hard.”

He added that Red Bull’s car is very good in high-degradation scenarios, but during the race in Montreal, “you would have needed a car that pushes the tires harder.” And a car that did that was Ferrari, whose drivers started in P10 and P11 and finished in P4 and P5.

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Even with the tire temperature problems, Verstappen and Red Bull pulled off a convincing win, extending their lead in both championships. And with his 41st win in F1, Verstappen also gave his dad a Father’s Day present he enjoyed.

Jos Verstappen would’ve loved Max’s Father’s Day present

The world celebrated Father’s Day this Sunday. In an interview before the race weekend started, Max Verstappen was asked what he had in mind for his father. He replied that a win in Montreal would make his dad the happiest. Being a former F1 driver, Jos Verstappen understands the value of a win, which is why Max said he and Red Bull would try to get the win. And much to Jos’ liking, they did.

Max also posted a picture with his father on Twitter, captioning it, “Cheers to more laughs together 😁 Happy Father’s Day 🙌” With Max having equaled Senna’s record and striving for many more wins that are destined to come, Jos couldn’t have asked for a better Father’s Day gift.

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Next up is the Austrian GP at the Red Bull Ring, Red Bull’s home race. Will Verstappen and Red Bull make it 101 and 42 wins, or will the tire degradation issues from Canada and the 2022 Austrian GP come back to haunt them?