Max Verstappen reckons second was the best he could do in F1 Canadian GP, as Christian Horner notes their message to FIA Race Director about gamesmanship.
Having qualified second in F1 Canadian GP, Red Bull’s Verstappen felt second in the grand prix was the maximum he could do against a faster Mercedes and George Russell. In order to defend from himself from Andrea Kimi Antonelli, they opted for an aggressive strategy to pit early.
It worked but not without a scare at one moment. It didn’t last for long as Antonelli used a lot of tyre, which allowed Verstappen to secure second. “The first two stints, I was struggling a lot with the tyres,” he said. “Just too much degradation again. So we drove quite a defensive race, to be honest, because basically two times, Kimi was about to overtake me, and we boxed.
“So that worked out quite well for me. We did a very aggressive strategy. I think the last pit stop, I was a bit worried if I was going to make it to the end competitively because on the hard tyre in the second stint, I was already struggling as well. So I think just a lighter fuel load helped a bit. But the gap wasn’t that big towards George, and I never really felt like I had the pace to do anything.
“It was more about just looking in the mirror, trying to maintain that gap, try to look after my tyres to not overstress them. It was not the easiest race, but I think as a team we managed it well. I think we definitely optimised everything we could because, honestly, throughout the whole race, I never really felt like I was actually holding on to second. So, yeah, we did a good job.
“I mean, the whole weekend, I think the car was reasonable. Strategy-wise, we did the best we could,” summed up Verstappen, as Horner concurred on the grand prix result and what was expected from it. “Well, look, I think it was a solid race for us. I mean, the first stint we pushed pretty hard early on, on the medium tyre,” said the Red Bull boss to media.
“The tyre then started to open up, so I would say the second stint for us was probably our least competitive stint. We started to open up and grain the front left. But then the last stint was very strong and was actually better than Kimi’s behind. And was pretty much a match to George ahead on, five or six lap older tyres. So, yeah, I think it was a very solid race for us. Good points. It was a well-executed race from that perspective.”
The late safety car gave Red Bull a chance to protest against Mercedes and Russell. There was a moment on the back straight when the Brit braked to create a distance from the safety car. It caught out Verstappen, who was forced to brake hard and in the process almost overtook the Mercedes driver.
Both of them made an immediate complain on the radio, but the stewards paid no attention to it. Red Bull eventually protested against that and Russell’s radio call along with erratic driving from the Brit. In the hearing they presented those as evidences, but the stewards rejected their claims.
As a result, Russell kept his win with Verstappen in second. “Well, there’s been, obviously, it will obviously come out in the documentation, but two protests that we’ve put to the stewards that we’ve asked them to have a look at,” said Horner before the decision from the stewards.
“Firstly, relating to the erratic driving behind the safety car, where George very heavily braked, obviously looking in his mirror for Max, and then the second one is very clearly the distance that was left behind the safety car. That was well in excess, I think at least three times in excess of the permitted distance. So, it’s gone to the, it’s within our right to obviously protest that, so we’ve lodged the protest, it’s with the stewards now, and we’ll see what they say.
“It’s certainly not personal to George. I think it’s..the way the regulations are, the regulations are pretty binary, pretty clear. So, we’ve put in a protest. The regulations are very clear about the safety car. If you remember Checo back in Singapore in ‘22, got two penalties for it. So, there were very clear precedents. No, not at all [Max didn’t ask us to protest].
“Max was talking to you guys, and I had no idea that, and it’s within a competitor’s right to raise a protest. It’s 2,000 euros per protest. And we were surprised that they weren’t noted and sent to the stewards. So, therefore, you have the right as a competitor to do that. And that’s what we’ve chosen to do, which is why Max and the guys are in front of the stewards,” summed up Horner.
When asked about potential games being played by Mercedes and Russell to push Verstappen in making a mistake considering he is on 11 penalty points, Horner affirmed the dangers of it. He revealed that they requested the FIA race director to keep an eye on it, just in case there is any gamesmanship.
“I think you could hear from George’s press comments, his objective was reasonably clear,” said Horner. “So, that’s, yeah, I don’t think there was any surprises with that. Look, I think that, it’s inevitable that there was going to be some potential gamesmanship. It’s something that we raised after the driver’s briefing, with the race director, just so that they were mindful of it as well.
“Because it’s clear that that kind of stuff goes on. So, yeah, but Max, I thought he’s been squeaky clean all weekend and drove a very good race. We just said to him [race director], look, could they please keep an eye on it? Because there’s been obviously comments that have been raised in the media. So, just please keep an eye on it,” summed up Horner.
Here’s the moment: https://www.formula1.com/en/video/2025-canadian-gp-safety-car-moment-that-saw-red-bull-protest-russells-win.1835039070590207064
Here’s how F1 Canadian GP panned out + stewards decision