Animal obstacle

Scare for Verstappen: “It was almost dead!”

Max Verstappen

(Bild: Getty Images/APA/Getty Images via AFP/GETTY IMAGES/CLIVE ROSE)

Max Verstappen had to overcome an animal obstacle on the way to his 60th Grand Prix victory in Canada. The Dutchman had to avoid a marmot. "It was almost dead!" said Verstappen of the scary moment.

It was on lap 31 when Verstappen had to leave the racing line and swerved quickly when a marmot got in his way on the track. "I got to the last chicane and initially thought it was debris," explained the 26-year-old in the post-race press conference. "I got closer and then I realized: 'Oh God, it's an animal!' So yes, I swerved to the right at the last moment," said the Red Bull driver. "I don't know what happened after that. Did one of you hit him or did you swerve too?" Verstappen asked Lando Norris and George Russell, who were sitting next to him.

Russell nodded: "I saw him. He then took off." Verstappen was reassured: "Yes, good. Fortunately. I mean, if he hits your car..." Russell joked: "I was actually quite happy because I made up a few tenths on you!"

Verstappen continued: "I really had to take my foot off the gas because it put me a bit off the dry line. Last year, a bird flew into my car, so I really didn't want a marmot in my car."

World championship lead extended
Despite rainy conditions, several safety car phases and a beastly obstacle, Verstappen drove to his sixth win of the season. The Red Bull superstar thus extended his lead in the world championship to 56 points ahead of Charles Leclerc, who also retired along with his Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz.

Second place went to Lando Norris, who was forced to acknowledge that "Max doesn't make mistakes. But it's close at the front and we're still fighting. Our car was great, I had amazing pace. The conditions were obviously a bit chaotic and caused a bit of stress."

"We want it like this, so that it fires up"
In addition to Red Bull and McLaren, George Russell, who started the race from pole position, also put a Mercedes on the podium. "I made a few small mistakes in the second stint and paid the price for that," said the Briton, but immediately took heart again: "We're in with the music. That was the first podium of the season and that's nice." Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff also saw "more positives than negatives" in the hot race. Commenting on Russell's mistake, the Viennese said: "Sometimes he takes risks that turn out well. We want him to be like that, to be on fire."