Max Verstappen has hailed Red Bull’s 100th F1 victory at 2023 Canadian Grand Prix as an “incredible moment” for the team.
Having finished fifth and sixth across both Friday Practice sessions amidst FP1 being curtailed after five minutes, Verstappen dominated a wet FP3 and Qualifying to take pole before comfortably cruising to his 41st victory in F1 which marked Red Bull’s 100th win.
A “very happy” Verstappen though felt that the race wasn’t a dominant performance despite leading from lights to flag, as he explained: “It wasn’t an easy or straightforward race though, it was quite difficult to switch on the tyres and get them to the right temperature.”
The 25 year-old also iterated that Red Bull’s 100th win isn’t the ultimate target as he added: “This is our 100th win and it’s an incredible moment for the Team, the hard work doesn’t stop here though, the new target is 200 now!”
Verstappen’s win also ensured that he moved level with three-time champion – Ayrton Senna in joint-fifth on F1’s all-time wins list.
Reflecting upon what it meant to equal Senna’s 41 wins, Verstappen commented: “Right from when I was a young kid karting, I was always dreaming about being a Formula One driver and I would have never imagined to actually win so many races, so to tie with Ayrton Senna is incredible and I feel really proud of that.”
Verstappen however is refusing to settle for equalling Senna’s haul because 13 more victories would lift him up to third for all-time F1 wins, displacing ex Red Bull driver – Sebastian Vettel who currently holds third place with 53 wins.
On the prospect of chasing higher placings in the all-time records, Verstappen quipped: “Hopefully we will have plenty more wins in the future, I don’t want to stop now.”
Sergio Perez meanwhile finished sixth to slip 69 points behind Verstappen in the title race with a worrying “drop in performance”, but the Mexican described the team’s 100th win as “really great” for team morale and praised Verstappen for doing “a tremendous job,” so far this season.
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