Max Verstappen admitted after Canadian Grand Prix qualifying that it was “great in hindsight” to have set the exact same lap time as George Russell given how fast Mercedes was in Montreal.
Lewis Hamilton was nearly four tenths quicker than anyone else in Saturday’s final practice session, but Verstappen set a 1:12.000 in Q3 – the same as Russell’s fastest time in the final part of qualifying – but Russell’s faster time meant he retained pole position for Sunday’s race.
Max Verstappen on Mercedes’ early pace: ‘There’s no way I could do that’
Both Russell and Hamilton were fitted with the team’s upgraded front wing this weekend which, along with other improvements the former world champion has made to the W15 this season, is paying off in terms of on-track performance.
Verstappen struggled during practice with Red Bull but lined up on the front row for the Canadian Grand Prix while teammate Sergio Pérez retired in Q1.
Given the raw speed Mercedes has shown so far in Canada, the Red Bull driver admitted that second place would be a perfectly acceptable starting position for him in Sunday’s race.
“I think overall it wasn’t a bad qualifying,” Verstappen said after the session.
“As I said before, Q3 was probably Mercedes’ weakest session, so looking back it’s great to see the exact same lap time.
“Looking at their pure pace, I think I’ll be second, because after Q2 I looked at their lap times and thought: ‘I can’t do that’.”
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“Obviously we had a bit of rain in between, a few drizzles here and there, but overall it was a bit of a chaotic weekend for us again.
“We had too many little issues, so from there it was just a matter of trying to find the best balance with the car.
“I think we had a decent balance in qualifying, I’m pretty happy with it, but we need to make sure we have a cleaner weekend without any issues, and I think that will help us a bit.”
Asked if he was surprised by Mercedes’ change of pace this weekend, Verstappen gave a diplomatic response, saying Mercedes’ speed was “good for F1” and that if Mercedes continues on its current trajectory, it will be another team that could enter the mix, with Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari at the top of the pack.
“Well, I think overall, when you look at the whole grid, there are going to be quite a few surprises, some good surprises and some bad surprises,” he said.
“So it just goes to show that everyone is coming closer and it’s really the little details that make the difference.
“Maybe they understand the tyres a lot better, they know the specific weaknesses of their car and maybe other teams have their own weaknesses too so on certain track layouts they have to take that into account and play around with that, but that’s a good thing for F1.”
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