The ‘lessons learned’ at Red Bull after Verstappen Canada GP criticism

After qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix, Max Verstappen raised eyebrows by publicly stating that Red Bull had not followed his set-up feedback. The four-time world champion explained that he had ultimately gone along with the team’s preferred direction, partly to show that it would not work.

“I’ve pointed it out so many times already, but sometimes you just have to let them feel for themselves that it doesn’t work,” Verstappen said in Canada.

Team principal Laurent Mekies later clarified that such “I told you” games are part of the team’s culture and, according to him, even necessary in order to progress.

Ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix, Verstappen revealed that the situation has been discussed internally and that a lesson has been learned for the upcoming race weekends.

“We talk about it all the time, but that’s always the case. We’re always trying to find the optimum or at least make progress,” Verstappen said during his Dutch media round in Monte Carlo.

“I just think that the direction in Montreal wasn’t progress at all. But it was analysed properly and I think it became quite clear. Hopefully it’s just a lesson learned for the coming races, to make sure we head in the right direction.”

According to Verstappen, publicly addressing the issue also served another purpose: keeping Red Bull and its technical team sharp.

“I always try to keep everyone sharp anyway. I simply wasn’t happy during that qualifying session because things weren’t working well. And that’s why I gave my honest opinion.” 

Asked whether the lesson learned is that Red Bull will follow Verstappen’s feedback more closely again during upcoming race weekends, the Dutchman clarified that this is normally already the case.

“They usually listen very well to what I have to say. It was just one of those moments where I had to be very clear that this wasn’t the right direction.”

First win of 2026 still a long way off for Red Bull?

In Montreal, Verstappen already looked ahead to the Monaco Grand Prix by joking that he would need to “order a new back” for the race, given that the RB22 remains weak over bumps and kerbs.

Verstappen now adds that little has changed over the past few weeks, meaning he is still expecting a challenging weekend in the principality and not counting on a second consecutive podium finish.

Red Bull’s engine partner Ford has indicated that the first podium of the year has whetted its appetite and that it hopes to secure a victory this season, but Verstappen does not believe that is realistic at this stage given the current pecking order.

“Quite a lot of things still need to happen for us to get a win. You can say it, but you have to stick to the facts. We’re still too slow to win, and I think that will also be the case here.”

For Monaco, Verstappen agrees with McLaren’s prediction that Ferrari heads into the weekend as the favourite.

“If you look at the last few races, Ferrari has been extremely strong in the slow corners. So I think they’ll be very good here. That’s my feeling. Here you need to be good in the slow corners, but you also need to be good over the kerbs, over the bumps, and in terms of drivability.

“Those are exactly the areas where – well, the slow corners are okay – but those other things are where we’re not quite optimal at the moment. And that simply costs lap time.”

Finally, Verstappen expects the new-generation cars to make little difference in Monaco. Visibility from the cockpit may be slightly better, but he still does not expect overtaking opportunities to improve.

“The cars are smaller, you can see more of the tyres. But on the other hand, the drivability is a bit more difficult than last year, so I don’t think it will make a huge difference,” Verstappen said when asked by Autosport.

“And the cars are still too big. You can’t overtake in Formula 2 either. You can’t overtake in Formula 3 either. You can’t even overtake in a Porsche Cup car either. If you’re fighting the cars around you, then you can’t overtake.”

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– The Autosport.com Team