It was a tricky day for everyone at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve in Friday's practice for the 2023 Canadian Grand Prix, but Max verstappen was looking particularly frustrated after finishing the day just sixth quickest.
The Red Bull driver didn't get a chance to set a proper lap time in FP1 when problems with the circuit's CCTV system meant the session was abruptly halted after only four minutes.
In the later practice, Verstappen was quick to get to work on the soft tyres carrying out qualifying simulations, and was soon vying for the top spot with Ferrari pair Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc.
But the championship leader's momentum appeared to lose its way midway through the extended 90-minute practice, and a late surge from Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton and George Russell as well as Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso left him in P6.
Afterwards, Verstappen admitted that the team has some thinking to do overnight, and needs to fine-tune the RB19 to be competitive this weekend against its key rivals.
“I think we still have a bit of work to do," he admitted. "The car is not fantastic at the moment over the bumps, over the kerbs. I mean, it’s still not too bad, but we definitely need to fine-tune a few things.
“Of course it wasn’t very straightforward with basically no running in FP1," he added when asked about how the day had been overall. "But it was the same for everyone, and at least we could get a bit of running in FP2.
"A bit more of a tricky session, but sometimes you have those days," he said, acknowledging that he was concerned by the pace of his rivals this weekend.
“I think the gap is a bit confusing,” Marko told ServusTV, as quoted by Motorsport-Total. “The track became much faster towards the end, that’s when we did a long run.
"But Leclerc was also very fast, or at least as fast as us," he admitted. [Mercedes] is clearly faster, but I fear that Ferrari will be even stronger here. You could see that. They were out at about the same time as us. And especially Leclerc’s long run was very impressive.”
The weather had also played a part, with the final quarter of an hour seeing the circuit hit by a sudden storm that left the track drenched and assailed by high gusty winds. "We’ll see what the weather will do on Sunday.
"You see now it’s raining," he pointed out. “Probably tomorrow is going to be very wet, so that normally always brings a few surprises in qualifying."
If either Red Bull wins on Sunday it will be a landmark 100th win for the team. “We are all expecting that 100th win and apparently that has caused extra pressure," conceded Verstappen. "We were a bit surprised that we were a bit off internally, especially in terms of handling."
Verstappen's team mate Sergio Perez shared the view that “we need to improve our ride” after finishing FP2 in eighth place, a tenth slower than Verstappen.
“It was a real shame that we ended up losing that FP1, I think we really needed it,” he commented. “And then FP2 - towards the end - the conditions got a bit worse, so as well it was a shame in that regard.
"I think we got a good base, and we just have to make sure that we play a bit with the car. It was all a bit in a hurry, so I think there’s plenty for us to understand from tonight.
“I think it’s going to be an interesting weekend," he added when asked about the likelihood of further rain. "It gets really dark here in this weather. The visibility becomes poor and the conditions undriveable pretty quickly.
"If the rain comes for qualifying, hopefully it’s not [so] much.”
After poor races in Monaco and Barcelona, Perez is relying on a strong comeback performance this weekend to close the 53 point gap held by Verstappen in the drivers championship standings after seven races of the 2023 season.
Meanwhile Red Bull has a 135 point margin over Mercedes, their nearest rivals in the constructors standings.
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