Max Verstappen has expressed his frustration at apparent ‘Red Bull silence’ during a confusing Canadian GP qualifying session.
Verstappen will line-up sixth in Montreal, but only nipped ahead of team-mate Isack Hadjar in Q3 after the Frenchman had topped Q2, with the Dutchman again expressing his dislike of the new rules, saying that it is “mentally not doable” for him to continue in 2027 if the proposed 60:40 change to the power unit power output collapses.
Detailing his tricky Saturday at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Verstappen explained how he was asking for feedback during the “confusing” session, but received none from the pit-wall.
“You just go in circles, like you improve the bumps and the kerbs, but then you just lose downforce, so that was an issue in qualifying,” Verstappen told media, including ApexF1.
“Plus, it was very confusing with the straight line speed; it was just not working for me, and then suddenly on the final lap [in Q3], I have no idea where that came from, so it is a bit confusing.
“Every lap I did, I went slower on the straights, I was gaining lap time in the corners and then on the straights I was losing more than I was gaining,” he later added to Viaplay.
“I asked a few times [for feedback from the team], but I heard nothing. I got nothing back, no feedback, so I just drove laps, but it wasn’t too good.”
Asked why he believed he did not receive an answer from the team to his concerns, Verstappen indicated that he felt the team might not have had an answer for him, as he drove to a pre-agreed set-up.
“They must not know themselves, I have no idea, it’s all a bit weird,” he continued.
“I’ve tried this many times before, but it never works. They are convinced that this direction does work, but the opposite is clearly true.”
