Reigning World Champion Max Verstappen claimed his fourth consecutive win of the season at the Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday, to match the legendary Ayrton Senna as a 41-time Formula 1 race winner.
Verstappen made a good start from pole and never really looked threatened; however, both Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton managed to remain within 15 seconds of the Dutchman.
Excluding the Australian Grand Prix, Red Bull won the Canadian GP by their smallest margin this season compared to the next team, with Alonso having finished just under 10 seconds behind him.
Progress is definitely being made by Aston Martin and Mercedes, but it still wasn’t enough to dethrone the 25-year-old at the Circuit de Gilles Villeneuve.
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Verstappen’s win marked his sixth of 2023 and Red Bull’s 100th since joining F1, signifying an important day for the history of the Milton Keynes-based team.
Verstappen was simply imperious once again, with his killer speed having been too much for anybody to deal with.
The Dutchman perhaps took his killer instincts too far though, as he reported on the radio during the race that he’d struck an unfortunate bird.
“I think I hit a bird,” Verstappen told his team over the radio.
Whether the bird survived or not is unknown; however, what’s for certain is that Sergio Perez’s hopes of remaining in the championship fight are dying.
Perez could only salvage sixth, something which resulted in Verstappen extending his lead in the Drivers’ Championship to a comfortable 69 points.
Speaking prior to the podium, Verstappen admitted that the race wasn’t “very straightforward” due to the rain from Saturday having swept away any rubber on the track.
He did admit, though, that claiming Red Bull’s 100th win was “pretty incredible”.
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“It was not a very straightforward race as the tyres were not getting into their window,” Verstappen said in his post-race interview.
“It was very cold compared to Friday, we were sliding, but we made it work and to win the 100th Grand Prix for the team is pretty incredible, it’s amazing.
“I never expected to be on these kind of number myself as well. We keep enjoying it and keep working hard. Today has been a great day again.”