Coming off a win in Baku, Oracle Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen is looking to extend the team’s lead in the constructors standings at the Canadian Grand Prix, which is returning after two seasons off of the calendar.
With all the discussion surrounding the stiff ride and ‘porpoising’ common in the new-regulation 2022 cars, Verstappen said he is curious about how the cars will behave on Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
“We haven’t been to Montreal for a while so it’s exciting to go back and see how the track is, it has quite a unique layout and it will be interesting to see what the surface is like, hopefully our car will work well this weekend.”
Red Bull extended their lead in the constructors championship last time out with a 1-2 finish, while closest competitors Scuderia Ferrari saw both of their cars retire due to technical issues. Though the team is now eighty points ahead, Verstappen said that they will need to stay focused in order to maintain their standing as it is still early in the season.
“I always look forward to going to Montreal, it’s a really beautiful city and arriving off the back of a 1-2 in Baku, it would be great to leave Canada with the same result. It is of course great that we are ahead in the Constructors’ and Drivers’ Championships but there’s still a long way to go, we need to keep pushing as a Team and maximise point scoring as much as possible.”
“We are confident we can put together another strong performance this weekend” – Sergio Pérez
Team-mate Sergio Pérez also looks forward to Montréal after moving up into second in the drivers standings with his Baku result. Despite his podium finish, Pérez was left wanting more after a “disappointing” race day where he was unable to convert the lead he took off of Charles Leclerc on the first lap, with Verstappen overtaking him and ending up securing the win.
“We’re going to Canada at a great moment for the Team. Scoring maximum points in Baku was a brilliant result for us all and keeps us in the fight for both titles. For me it was a frustrating day in parts but when you have a disappointing day and still come second and get fastest lap you can’t say it’s too bad!”
Pérez said that he wants to build off the momentum of last weekend as RB18 continues to perform well on the street circuits they’ve visited thus far. He looks forward to returning to Canada with such a competitive car and will be reviewing his Baku effort in order to prepare.
“This car is really performing on the street circuits so we are confident we can put together another strong performance this weekend and keep the momentum going at the top. I am going to spend some time understanding the race in Baku more with my engineers so that I can get the most this weekend. It’s nice to be back in Canada, it’s a circuit I enjoy driving and taking a car to it which is so competitive is going to be fun.”
