After securing third on the grid for Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix Max Verstappen referenced the criticism which has followed him throughout 2018 so far.
Verstappen was one of the star performers on Saturday afternoon, splitting the Mercedes drivers for a spot on the second row. The Dutchman had topped all three practice sessions leading into qualifying.
It is a welcome return to form for Verstappen, who ahead of the weekend looked agitated in Thursday’s press conference, half-joking that he “might headbutt” the next person to ask him about the series of crashes and incidents which have overshadowed his first six races.
As he returned to the pits after his final Q3 attempt, Verstappen was congratulated over the radio by Red Bull boss Christian Horner, to which he replied: “I guess I still know how to drive!”
Verstappen thinks he maximised the performance of his RB14, which is running the upgraded Renault power unit.
“We extracted the best we could out of qualifying. We knew in Q3 it would be a bit harder for us but to be still so close was good. The car all weekend has been really strong, every session we made progress with the car and I’m feeling confident on the track. I’m very happy.”
When asked if he felt Red Bull had the pace for pole after seeing teammate Daniel Ricciardo go quickest in Q2, he said: “I knew we had a good car, but I wanted to wait and see how competitive we would be in Q3. I quickly saw that it was going to be hard to take pole position but you always do your best and try to get the best out of the car.”