Photo: Red Bull Content Pool
Verstappen claims they can do better despite his podium finish
Formula 1 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing F1 Canada 2026 F1 season
Max Verstappen believes Red Bull can do better even though he finished third in the Canadian Grand Prix which he marked as a great result after poor qualifying and Sprint race.
F1 & MotoGP news to your inbox every day.
Verstappen enjoyed his best Grand Prix result of the season so far as he was running second before Lewis Hamilton overtook him in the closing laps. There were some circumstances like McLarens starting on intermediate tires and later the retirement of George Russell that helped Verstappen to take the third after problems which affected him throughout the whole weekend.
“I would say a little bit of a surprise but at the same time you have to look at it,” commented the Dutch driver his result, quoted by the official Formula 1 website. “The two McLaren cars made a mess of the strategy starting on the inters, so that helps, and then of course, George's car gave up, so that also helps to be on the podium,” he continued.
Despite the problems of others which worked out in his favour, the Red Bull seemed more competitive in the race after the team sorted out issues with the car from Qualifying that gave Verstappen only sixth position on the grid.
“But for us, it's still a great result. We're battling with the Ferrari, not too far off the Mercedes, it's just on the second stint on the medium we were just lacking a bit of grip. It was just not really working for us so that's something that we need to understand but nevertheless, on the podium is positive,” he admitted.
Overall, the four time World Champion believes that they are now a lot closer. Red Bull was fighting with the midfield at the beginning of the season and now they are a lot closer to the front. “In that sense we made some really positive steps forward, but I also know we can do better and that's what we'll focus on,” he concluded.
