Verstappen accepts ‘we can’t make it worse’ after tough Canada Sprint

Max Verstappen admitted that any changes Red Bull make to the car ahead of Qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix “can’t make it worse” after he endured an uninspiring Sprint.

The Dutchman has struggled to feel settled so far this weekend and found fault with the ride of his car during Friday’s action, explaining that the bouncing was so significant that his “feet were flying off the pedals”.

With parc ferme conditions in place between Sprint Qualifying and the Sprint, Red Bull were unable to implement a fix for Verstappen’s troubles before the 23-lap event.

He found himself in no man’s land during the Sprint as the team’s rivals at Mercedes, McLaren and Ferrari outpaced them, leaving Verstappen to cross the line 15.935s behind winner George Russell.

Asked what he could take away from the session, he replied: “I didn’t learn a lot to be honest. We knew the problems that we had already after Sprint Qualifying, and then you can’t touch the car so you just want to basically get the Sprint over with and then try to make some changes for Qualifying.

“I hope we can make it a little bit better. I mean, we can’t make it worse so it can only be better to be honest.”

His team mate Isack Hadjar was similarly despondent after the car’s struggles were further exacerbated with an engine problem. Running in P8, he lost power and returned to the pit lane before Red Bull seemed to rectify the issue.

The delay dropped him to the bottom of the order and he eventually finished three laps behind Russell, but he confirmed that the engine troubles should not affect Qualifying which will get underway at 1600 local time.

“Everything was pretty boring up until then anyway,” Hadjar said after the Sprint. “I was just following Max and I lost power. They managed to fix it for this afternoon so that’s the only good news.”