Verstappen foresees Ferrari fightback

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen has said he expects Ferrari to be more competitive in Canada as they try to end their winless start to the 2019 season.

The upcoming race in Montreal could be a case of Ferrari hitting the last-chance saloon, given how dominant Mercedes have been on both World Championship title fronts so far this campaign.

Verstappen has done a fine job of getting in amongst the Ferrari cars and heads to Canada just four points behind Sebastian Vettel in the drivers’ standings.

But Verstappen is expecting a harder task fighting the Scuderia on a power-hungry track that is expected to suit the SF90.

“Montreal is always a nice city to go to,” Verstappen said in his Canadian Grand Prix preview.

“The track is actually pretty challenging even though it looks like there are quite a lot of straights.

“The chicanes and how you ride the kerbs is important as it can compromise you a lot if you make a mistake.

“It’s all connected, left to right or right to left, if you make a mistake on one of them, then your whole sequence is destroyed.

“It’s a fun track, at least you can overtake if needed and I always enjoy going there.

“I expect Ferrari to be more competitive in Canada, so for us it may be a bit more difficult, but as always we will try and maximise the result.”

Verstappen’s team-mate, Pierre Gasly, has been encouraged by Red Bull’s previous results in Canada as he looks to try and improve on his personal best finish.

“I’ve only been to Canada once before so I don’t know much about Montreal but I’m happy to be going back and it’s a track that’s usually good for the team,” Gasly added.

“Max finished third there last year and Daniel [Ricciardo] got his first win with the team in Montreal so it’s always been pretty successful for Red Bull.

“I think you always relate a track with your previous performance there and I was P11 in 2018 so it was ok but this year I will be aiming for much better.”

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