With rival teams closing the gap to Red Bull this season, the pressure is on Max Verstappen if he wants to retain his drivers’ title. However, his hope of winning a fourth consecutive championship may go from bad to worse as he inches one step closer to receiving a grid penalty. According to the Dutchman himself, there is nothing that Red Bull can do to avoid that.
In an interview (as quoted by formu1a.uno), Verstappen said, “I know I will have to serve a penalty during the season”. The 26-year-old’s remarks come after a newly fitted engine to his car in FP2 suffered a failure.
The damage to his engine was detected in the MGU-K. Although this damaged engine will not affect his Canadian Grand Prix, it could cause trouble for Verstappen and Red Bull later in the year. Since there is a limit on the number of engine components each driver can use in a season, Verstappen will most likely serve a penalty as he admitted himself.
As for his Canadian GP weekend so far, Verstappen has had a decent start. Despite not expecting a good result in Montreal this weekend, the Dutchman managed to qualify in P2.
There was nothing to separate him and pole-sitter George Russell as both drivers registered the same lap time. However, since Russell set it first, he will start on pole.
Max Verstappen delighted with his Canadian GP qualifying performance
Speaking to the media about his qualifying result, Verstappen said, “Overall, we had a good qualifying. The whole weekend was a bit complicated for us, but I accept being second. Going into qualifying, I would definitely have taken it. The fact that we were so close at the end makes it really exciting for the race, too”.
What will benefit Verstappen in his world championship aspirations all the more is that none of the two Ferrari drivers managed to qualify in the top 10. Charles Leclerc, who is just 31 points behind the Dutchman in the championship, managed only the 11th-fastest lap. Meanwhile, Carlos Sainz will start P12.
So close… on to race day @redbullracing #KeepPushing #CanadianGP pic.twitter.com/fT3so5SEyh
— Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) June 8, 2024
While Verstappen seems to be in a healthy place when it comes to the championship standings, the same cannot be said for Red Bull. With Sergio Perez only managing to qualify in P16, all hopes will be on Verstappen.
If the 26-year-old were to have a poor Grand Prix result and both Ferraris were to finish in the points, then Red Bull could even be at risk of losing all their advantage in the championship. Irrespective of how this weekend pans out, it is fair to say that 2024 will perhaps provide one of the closest battles for the championship in the recent ground-effect era.
