Red Bull finally finds grip at front of RB18 to Verstappen's delight

Max Verstappen has not had a start this good to the weekend as in Canada this year. That promises something for the Red Bull Racing driver who currently already firmly holds the lead in the championship. Dr. Helmut Marko even thinks that Red Bull is three-tenths faster per lap than Ferrari due to some improvement this weekend.

Verstappen three tenths faster than Ferrari

Max Verstappen left rivals behind during the first practice sessions in Montreal for the GP of Canada. The Dutchman beat his rivals Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez. Leclerc did come very close to Verstappen during FP2 with just a 0.081-second difference. Marko puts that into perspective and mentions that Leclerc needed a second set of tires to do so. Auto Motor und Sport quotes the Austrian: "Technically, we are three tenths per lap faster."

The gap with Perez was much bigger. On the long runs Perez seemed to be coming along nicely, but over one fast lap the gap was more than a full second. Marko sounds critical: "Over one lap he showed his old weakness again, or on the contrary the old strength of Verstappen." Perez himself already indicated that he struggled with a fast lap because of a wrong set-up during the fast runs.

Possible cause of difference between Verstappen and Perez

AMuS thinks that something else is going on. The medium reports that Red Bull has finally found the grip at the front of the RB18 that Verstappen had long expected. This makes the rear a bit harder to control, but Verstappen has no problems with that, Perez does. Finally, Marko sounds elated: "We were fast from the first lap and did not have to search for the right balance any longer."