“Suicidal Birds” Acted as Max Verstappen’s Roadblock on His Way to Winning the Canadian GP

Srijon Jana | 20/06/2023
“Suicidal Birds” Acted as Max Verstappen’s Roadblock on His Way to Winning the Canadian GP

Max Verstappen put on yet another display of absolute dominance at the Canadian GP. The Dutchman raced on to victory without being challenged by anyone else. Verstappen admitted that the only thing he had to worry about during the whole race was the wildlife around Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Sunday.

Verstappen started the Canadian GP from pole position. As soon as the lights went out, the Red Bull driver steered off into the distance while Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso squabbled for P2 behind him. Verstappen spent the rest of the race without any other driver coming close to threatening him.

However, the Dutchman caught everyone’s focus once during the race following a bizarre incident. While cruising comfortably in the lead, Verstappen’s RB19, sadly, collided with a flying bird, killing it in the process.

Max Verstappen takes on the Canadian Wildlife

The incident happened on lap 11 of the 70-lap race, when coming out of Turn 4 Verstappen encountered a flying bird. Neither the bird, nor Verstappen could get out of each other’s way and the two collided, resulting in its death.

In an interview following the race, Verstappen was asked about the ‘bird attack’ that he faced during the race. He replied, “Yeah, the birds today were a bit suicidal. Few times, like once, one got hit, but there were also few like flying towards the car and then taking off again.”

Verstappen further mentioned that birds were not the only thing that he had to worry about during the race. He also encountered a groundhog on the exit of Turn 5.

Verstappen explained that he was almost screaming out to the groundhog to move left, away from the racing line. Luckily, the groundhog did so and saved itself. However, the Red Bull driver was not surprised. He claimed that these things are very common when they race in Canada.

Verstappen drove the Canadian GP with the bird’s corpse in his car

After the race ended and Verstappen took the chequered flag comfortably, the Red Bull mechanics realized that the corpse of the bird had stuck to Verstappen’s car throughout the race. The bird got lodged in the brake duct of the RB19 following the collision and stayed there throughout the race.

However, even a  blocked brake duct did not seem to affect the performance of the Dutch racer even one bit. He finished the race almost 10 seconds ahead of Alonso in P2. Probably Verstappen would probably have finished with an even bigger margin if not for the bird remains in his car.

Verstappen and his Red Bull seem untouchable at the moment. The fact that a bird attack is the only memorable thing to come out from a weekend which Verstappen, dominated, says a lot about the current state. Verstappen currently leads the drivers’ standings with 195 points to his name and is slowly making his way towards his third world championship title.

Post Edited By: Somin Bhattacharjee
Canadian GP Max Verstappen Red Bull

About the author

Srijon Jana

Srijon Jana is a Formula 1 writer at The SportsRush. As a medical undergrad with a passion for motorsports, Srijon loves juggling between cadavers and cars with ease. He started watching F1 when he was only 11, and the beautiful cars grabbed his interest. Even now, he religiously follows all the Grands Prix, and when he is not gushing over Charles Leclerc, he likes to dabble in football as well. He is a college quizzer with several state-level and national-level accolades. He is a proud Ferrari fan, and loves to pass his free time reading, watching movies, and spending some quality time with his friends and family.

Don’t miss these