'That must have made Red Bull nervous about problems for Verstappen'

Mika Hakkinen saw Max Verstappen tighten his grip on the Formula One championship in the Canadian Grand Prix, but teammate Sergio Perez crashed out with a gearbox problem. For Hakkinen, this is reason to believe that Red Bull Racing have reliability issues.

Whereas Charles Leclerc started the season strongly, Verstappen had two stoppages in the early stages. The roles seem to have reversed after Red Bull's sixth win in a row, but according to Hakkinen, the Austrian team still has a sore point. "The only problem for Red Bull appears to be reliability," he notes in his column for Unibet.

'That must have made Red Bull nervous'

Perez's early retirement must have caused some tense faces at the Canadian Grand Prix, according to the former Formula One driver. "That must have made the team nervous on a day when Max really needed to take advantage," the Finn referred to title rival Leclerc's disadvantageous starting position in the race. "The great result will have been a relief for them."

Meanwhile, Hakkinen notes that Ferrari has a very fast, but fragile car. Yet he agrees with team principal Mattia Binotto, who is willing to put up with reliability problems as long as the car is fast enough. However, he does see the Italian stable facing a tough task in closing the gap to Verstappen. "Not only do Ferrari need to win some races, they also need Max to hit trouble," concludes the two-time world champion.