Max Verstappen was ‘pleased’ with fifth on the grid for the Canadian Grand Prix, but he is aiming to keep the Mercedes and Ferrari cars in his sights in the race.
Despite finishing almost a second behind the pole position time set by Lewis Hamilton, the Dutchman believes their qualifying advantage could be diminished in race trim, giving him the chance to stay in contention for a race distance.
“We know that this circuit is not our favourite and doesn’t particularly suit us so P5 was the best we could aim for, we achieved that so I’m pleased with the result,” said Verstappen.
“Ferrari and Mercedes are able to turn their engines up and find that extra pace; we can’t do that at the moment. During the race the engine power difference is slightly less as they cannot run at that level for an entire race, this means we can try to get involved and make ground.
“I think our race pace looks ok for tomorrow, if we can keep fifth that is the first goal, then we can see what happens in front of us.”
Red Bull has continued to bring upgrades to the RB13 in the hope of catching the two leading teams. The 19-year old is happy to see the progress being made by the team and feels it is starting to show, even on a circuit like Montreal which doesn’t suit Red Bull too well.
“We are constantly working hard to improve the car, working towards having the best car in the field, so this means constant development,” Verstappen added. “The upgrades we have got this weekend have worked really well which proves we are going in the right direction.
“It is hard to show that progress in Qualifying, and at a tough track with long straights, but we are definitely improving.”
