Verstappen: Red Bull still lacking top speed in Montreal 

Max Verstappen admits Red Bull is still lacking top speed compared to Formula 1 rivals Mercedes and Ferrari, despite topping both Friday practice sessions for the Canadian Grand Prix. 

Red Bull made a strong start in Montreal as Verstappen bounced back from his difficult Monaco weekend to set the pace in both FP1 and FP2. The Dutchman set his quickest times on Pirelli’s fastest-ever F1 tyre, the Hypersoft, ending the day 0.130s up on Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari. 

The Milton Keynes-based squad has been boosted by an upgraded Renault power unit for this weekend’s race but Verstappen conceded his team is still lagging behind its rivals - particularly Mercedes, with the German manufacturer opting not to run the Hypersofts at all on Friday, having brought the fewest sets of the pink-walled compound to Canada. 

“The car is working well but we’re still lacking a bit of top speed,” Verstappen explained.  “We could see that in the long runs. Especially Mercedes they’re looking very quick there. But I think we are not too far away so just general a positive day.”

But Verstappen remained pleased with his team’s promising start to the weekend and is keen to see whether Red Bull can remain the team to beat heading into qualifying. 

“We didn’t need to change a lot initially, the car was well set-up and we could do our whole program and we look quite competitive, but we have to wait and see for tomorrow,” he added. 

“It was a positive start to the weekend. In the beginning it was really dirty. Second practice we were still there so it’s good, we did our whole program with long runs so it’s good.”