Max Verstappen took his sixth victory in nine races, five of which have come in the last six, increasing his dominance, which has risen to 46 points over teammate Sergio Pérez, and 49 points over Charles Leclerc.
While Verstappen ‘s weekend in Canada was positively influenced by Leclerc’s grid penalty, the Dutchman had to work very hard to beat the Monegasque Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz.
The Spaniard gave the impression of having a small pace advantage over the Red Bull driver, but could not find a way to overtake him on track.
Despite his latest winning streak and comfortable championship position, Verstappen warned that the energy drink team “needs to improve” after seeing their main rivals being faster than them during the 2022 Canadian Grand Prix race in Formula 1.
“We still have a long way to go and I know the gap [in points] is quite big, but I also know it can change very quickly,” he said when asked about his considerable lead in the drivers’ world standings.
“I mean, in the third race I was 46 points behind, so we just have to stay calm and keep working hard, we have to focus and improve, because today [Sunday in Canada] we have not been the fastest.
“It changes everything a bit, just like last weekend [in Baku] our race pace compared to his looked good, here it didn’t look so good, but we managed to win and I think obviously that’s a big thing too. Our quality. Now we just have to work together as a team to make small improvements to the car.”
Ferrari has accustomed us this season to being the fastest team in qualifying, with Leclerc taking six of the nine pole positions this season, while in race pace the Milton Keynes team seems to have an extra.
Speaking about it, Verstappen said the reasons why they are superior to Ferrari in race pace were difficult to pin down, as the differences and form of the two title contenders “comes and goes” from race to race.
“I don’t think they were always quicker on Saturday and then slower on Sunday. I think in Barcelona they were also quick on Sunday and in a few more races,” he said.
“I really think it’s something that comes and goes. We also know of course… that qualifying was rainy and maybe that didn’t help us, because the track in the race was greener. But hey, we have to look at everything.” .
“Maybe the layout of the track, the curbs, whatever, we’ll look at it in depth, but at the moment it’s hard to really explain why they were a little faster than us in the long run,” concluded the current drivers’ world leader. , MaxVerstappen .
