Max Verstappen dominated the 2023 Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday, winning from pole and, after the race laughed, off a kerb-hopping moment that could’ve ended in tears.
Verstappen started the race from pole and once he kept his lead after the first corner, he raced away without a hint of challenge as Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso scrabbled behind him for second place, a fight won eventually by the Spaniard.
However, on lap 66, Verstappen rode the kerbs hard at Turn 9 but kept his RB19 out of the walls after which he radioed his team saying: “I almost knocked myself out on that kerb haha.”
The same incident happened to Mercedes’ George Russell, but he ended up in the wall and brought out the Safety Car, and while the Briton kept going, he sustained damage and retired the car towards the end of the race with overheated brakes.
Verstappen however survived the incident, and another one as he reported earlier in the race that he “hit a bird”, which shows you that nothing literally is currently stopping him from taking his third Formula 1 Title in a row, giving credence to our cheeky headline awarding Max his third F1 Title in a row…
Speaking after the race in Red Bull‘s media brief after equaling the great Ayrton Senna’s win tally and giving Red Bull Racing their 100th win in top flight, Verstappen said: “I’m of course very happy to win here in Canada.
“It wasn’t an easy or straightforward race though,” he insisted, “it was quite difficult to switch on the tyres and get them to the right temperature.
The new target is 200
“This is our 100th win and it’s an incredible moment for the Team, the hard work doesn’t stop here though, the new target is 200 now! Right from when I was a young kid karting, I was always dreaming about being a Formula One driver and I would have never imagined to actually win so many races, so to tie with Ayrton Senna is incredible and I feel really proud of that,” the Dutchman reflected.
“Hopefully we will have plenty more wins in the future, I don’t want to stop now,” he concluded.
Sergio Perez on the other hand had another miserable weekend, dropping out of Qualifying in Q2, starting the race from 12th and managing only sixth at the chequered flag.
“Today was a bit of a surprise, we just didn’t have the pace,” Perez lamented. “It was looking good on the hard tyre initially but once the safety car came in I couldn’t recover the grip on that tyre and we didn’t have the pace on the medium.
“It is important we take time to understand the weekend because this race, in particular, has been poor in pace and we need to get on top of it. I have the confidence in myself and know what I can do but today we were not good.
“Right now, I am more concerned about my drop in performance than my place in the Championship because the pace is just not there. You never have no pressure on you, it has been a difficult period but I am here to perform and I need to do that in the next few races,” he explained.
“On a positive note, we achieved 100 wins today and it is really great for the Team, I am very happy for everyone, Max has done a tremendous job, not just today but throughout the whole season,” Perez concluded.