Max Verstappen heaps big pressure on Red Bull after stewards' Canadian GP penalty verdict

Max Verstappen has called on Red Bull to improve the execution of their race weekends after narrowly avoiding a penalty for a qualifying mishap at the Canadian Grand Prix. The Dutchman was affected by power unit issues and also attracted the attention of the stewards after stopping beside the fast lane at the start of Q2.

Both Verstappen and Red Bull were feeling the heat on Saturday as Mercedes stamped their authority on the weekend heading into qualifying. The championship leader eventually went on to qualify in P2 following an unprecedented dead heat with George Russell, but he was still frustrated by his team’s messy execution.

The three-time world champion was taken out of contention in FP2 on Friday after an MGU-K issue forced him back into the garage, and set-up problems plagued his running in the final practice session of the weekend.

Dressing down his start to the weekend, Verstappen said: "It was a nice qualifying session, but from our side, we've had too many issues this weekend. It shouldn't really happen. We keep a close eye on everything, as we always do, but sometimes you have periods when things don't go well for a while and all these little problems come up.

"We have to try to make sure it doesn't happen anymore. Everyone knows that and you always try to prevent it, but at the moment things are just not going so smoothly. Of course, we talk about it in the team and we always try to improve or analyse why certain things happen, but somehow, we can’t really stop it at the moment."

Verstappen now prepares to battle Russell when the lights go out for the Canadian GP, and the two have a history when it comes to on-track scuffles. The pair came together during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix sprint race last season, and in FP3 the Red Bull driver accused his Mercedes rival of purposefully blocking him.

The reigning champion was, however, content with qualifying behind Russell. "Mercedes has easily been quick this weekend, so second place is actually a good result for me. We were exactly equal in Q3, but Mercedes was three-tenths faster in Q2. Because of that, I think there was still a lot more in it for Mercedes, they haven't really shown their best lap yet.

"I'm happy that it's Mercedes and not Ferrari because Ferrari is closer to us in the championship. But at the end of the day, we have to concentrate on ourselves and make things happen ourselves, because you can't rely on the competition."