Verstappen seemed ready for a relatively stress-free afternoon in Montreal, driving comfortably from Sainz in the early stages, having won the pole on Saturday.
But after Verstappen fell behind the Spaniard after making a second stop, Yuki Tsunoda then fell into the barriers of turn 2, the Safety Car allowed Sainz to enter the pit and close behind Verstappen – with the couple then offers fans a fantastic 16 round battle. the flag as the green flag races continued, with Verstappen holding the victory with just 0.993 seconds.
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“It was a tough fight,” Verstappen said. “I expected to have a little more rhythm, but we seemed to miss it a bit compared to Carlos Ή It was a little harder than I expected.
“We did our strategy and I think it worked for us, that was the right thing to do. In that second stop, of course I had the freshest tires and I was approaching Carlos, but I was not sure if I would completely close this gap by the end of the race.
“But then the Safety Car came out and I was also not very happy with it, because then I knew it had naturally fresh tires behind me, and already at a slightly faster rate than me… But the last 15, 16 laps, we were making ends meet and of course I knew I could not go wrong. But it was a good fight. “It’s always more enjoyable to be able to really push in a Formula 1 car instead of just saving your tires.”
Verstappen kept his former teammate
Asked what was the key to keeping Sainz away, Verstappen replied: “Well, of course you always had to make sure that the places where he had DRS had a good exit from the corner before. But the point was just to really push the limit, not to make a mistake in general, because I knew that even in Area 1, if I made a small mistake, Carlos would win a tenth against me and that might have been enough for me to be more close. in the first DRS zone and then in the second.
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“It was a good fight, a good push. I had my moments where I had a little oversteer, then I looked in the mirror and saw Carlos having the same moments! So it was really on the edge, but that’s good to see. “
With Verstappen’s lead in the drivers’ standings now close to two wins in races against team-mate Sergio Perez – who failed to finish in Montreal after a technical problem in the 8th lap – the Dutchman could be forgiven for believing his title 2022 was already on its way.
Canada 2022 Grand Prix: Verstappen holds Sainz to win in Montreal
But the Red Bull driver refused to follow this line of thinking, despite winning five of the last six races.
“There is still a long way to go [to go]Said Verstappen, whose Red Bull team has also won the last six games, a feat he has only achieved once in the past. “I know the gap is big enough, of course, but I also know it can change very quickly. I mean, in the third race I was 46 behind, so we just have to stay calm, we have to concentrate and improve because today we were not the fastest.
Highlights: Watch the action from an exciting match in Montreal as Verstappen holds Sainz to seal victory
“It rests a little,” he added. “Last weekend [in Baku] “It looked good in the race, now it did not look so good, but we managed to win again and I think that is also a quality, and we just have to work with the whole team to try and just find small improvements in the car.”
