Max in Montreal: 'We still have a fast car'

Published on 07 June 2024 by Stefan Meens

When Max Verstappen arrives in the paddock of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in the Canadian city of Montreal, the main topic of debate are the newly announced 2026 Formula 1 regulations. “We knew for a while what it would roughly look like. Hopefully it’s good for racing. We’ll see if it’s going in the right direction. It’s still a question mark for everyone. But I’m not really looking at it too much; we’re still in 2024 and we’ve got enough work to do this year.”

On that latter note, the reigning champion adds: “The longer you keep the same regulations, the more the field bunches up, but it’s important to attract new manufacturers, so something has to happen at some point.”

The other big news in the world of Formula 1 is the announced contract extension for Sergio Perez. Max’s Oracle Red Bull Racing teammate will stay with the Milton Keynes-based outfit until 2026. “We’ve always worked well together”, says Max. “It brings stability knowing what we’re doing next year. It works well within the team. If you can work well together and we are able to get the best result for the team, than you should maintain that situation.”

Two weeks ago, Red Bull endured a tough weekend in the streets of Monaco. The hope is to bounce back with a much stronger result at the Canadian Grand Prix. “I knew Monaco wouldn’t be easy. We still have a fast car and some circuits work better for us than others. We’ll need to keep improving things step by step. It’s work in progress, but I’m happy with what we’ve done after Monaco. It’s going in the right direction and it’s still a long season.”

Looking ahead to this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix, Max concludes: “It’s difficult to say what’s going to happen with the weather. It could be challenging during qualifying, but we’ve prepared well and we know what to work on as a team. So I don’t care if it’s a wet race or not; it’s both fine with me.”