Horner disagrees with Verstappen: 'He would have won'

According to Christian Horner, Max Verstappen would have won the race even without a safety car. The Briton is convinced his pupil could have overtaken Carlos Sainz at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

Profit for Verstappen

Verstappen seemed dominant all weekend in Canada. The Dutchman was fastest in free practice on Friday, took pole by a huge margin in the rain, but struggled on Sunday. Verstappen himself was unsure after the race whether he had caught Sainz on his new tyres, but Horner thinks otherwise.

Verstappen came in early for a new set of hard tyres at the first virtual safety car, giving up his leading position to Sainz. Verstappen regained it when Sainz came in for the second VSC, only to relinquish the lead for a second stop. Verstappen came out ten seconds behind and by the time of the safety car, the gap was more than seven seconds.

Strategy didn't matter in Canada

Verstappen doubted afterwards whether he could have closed the gap, but Horner does not doubt it. The Briton said according to Motorsport-total.com that all the data showed that Verstappen would have caught up with the Spaniard ten laps before the end. The question is whether Sainz would have stayed out that long, or whether he would have gone on the attack on a fresh set of hard tyres.

We'll never know for sure though, as the safety car gave Sainz a free pit stop that put him right behind Verstappen on fresh hard tyres. The Ferrari driver was unable to really attack the reigning world champion and had to settle for second place.