Max Verstappen would like to make his life easier by regaining pole

It's a funny season we're going through Max Verstappen. After being 46 points behind the championship lead after Melbourne, here he is with a lead of 34 points over Charles Leclerc, his fiercest rival, while Sergio Perez is inserted in second position in the championship. The Dutchman wins a lot – already five times this season – and has even won in four of the last five Grands Prix. And yet, he only took one pole position. It was in Imola, almost two months ago. 

So obviously, even if everything is under control in the championship, the Dutchman would see himself leaving a little more often with the Pirelli pole position trophy. “We didn’t get many pole positions, he admitted. I really think we have a big margin in this area. And on the other hand, our race pace is good, even very good during certain races. The only thing is, on certain tracks, it is very difficult to overtake, so you make your life easier by starting from pole.”

Still looking determined, Verstappen hopes to score his second pole of the season in Canada. © Antonin Vincent / DPPI

This is good, Max Verstappen will be the big favorite for qualifying on Saturday evening in Canada. Firstly because he was the fastest in the two free practice sessions on Friday, but also because Charles Leclerc, the man who privatizes the poles (6/8) as much as he privatizes the victories (5/ 8) will receive an engine penalty of at least 10 places, and will therefore not be able to take a fifth pole position in a row. 

For the Batavian, the opportunity to widen the gap at the top of the championship on his Monegasque rival is a great one. But Max Verstappen is not getting excited yet. “We have just had a string of good races, yes, but the season is very, very long and a lot of things can still happen. Clearly, we saw that the last races constituted a major turning point. This is why we will also have to concentrate on performance over one lap.” The ball is in the court of Red Bull to try to reduce the gap with Ferrari and Leclerc on one lap, but Verstappen, beaten in the last two Saturdays by his teammate Perez, must also raise his level in the exercise.

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