Verstappen enjoys under pressure from Sainz: 'That's always more fun'

Max Verstappen won the Canadian Grand Prix, but it was certainly not easy. After the race, the Red Bull driver let it be known at the press conference that he had expected to have more pace.

Verstappen was dominant all weekend in Montreal. On Friday, the Dutchman proved unbeatable in the short and long runs, and it was no different on Saturday in the rain. Verstappen took pole with supremacy. On Sunday, however, he came under pressure from Carlos Sainz and he didn't expect that.

''It was a tough race. I expected to have a bit more pace, but we seemed to be a bit short compared to Carlos. Of course, that was the only one (Ferrari) I could compare it to. It was harder than I expected, but we did our strategy and I think it worked in our favor,'' Verstappen said at the press conference.

Verstappen drove on fresh tires before the Safety Car, but wasn't sure if he could close the gap to Sainz. Then the Safety Car came on the track for the Yuki Tsunoda incident, and that gave Sainz a free pit stop. That, too, didn't sit well with Verstappen.

''I wasn't happy about that, because he was behind me on fresh tires and I already knew he was relatively faster. Then it's hard to defend. The last fifteen or sixteen laps were full speed and on the limit. I knew I couldn't make a mistake, but it was fun racing. It's always more fun to go full throttle in a Formula One car than to have to conserve your tires'', concludes the Red Bull driver.