Red Bull’s Max Verstappen is happy “to be back on the podium” after he finished third at the 2026 Canadian Grand Prix.
Verstappen benefitted from a tyre strategy blunder from McLaren to climb to third on lap 9 with a pass on Lewis Hamilton, before he was elevated to second on lap 30 after race leader – George Russell suffered a power unit failure.
Hamilton however repassed the four-time champion with an outside move into Turn 1 on lap 62 to finish second ahead of him and behind race winner – Andrea Kimi Antonelli, although third place still marked Verstappen’s first trip to the podium since he won the 2025 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The result also meant that Ford returned to the podium for the first time since Giancarlo Fisichella won the 2003 Brazilian GP, having partnered Red Bull to produce their own powertrains.
Verstappen nevertheless pleased to be back in the top three after his initial expectation of a quiet race after his lack of competitiveness in Saturday’s Sprint, but felt that his medium-tyre stint was challenging in terms of temperature management.
“It’s great to be back on the podium. It was a little bit of a surprise, but we made the right calls and didn’t leave anything on the table. We had a very good first stint on the Soft tyre, and that gave us the gap we needed. The Medium tyre was more difficult because managing the temperatures, combined with going in and out of Virtual Safety Cars, made things more challenging.”
“I enjoyed the last few laps battling with Lewis, and I pushed hard to take the position back.”
Verstappen also noted that Miami and Canada has seen forward progress for the team after a slow start to the season.
“Over the last two weekends, we’ve been a lot closer, and there have been positive steps forward. It’s also our first podium with our own powertrain, which is a great milestone for the Team, so credit to everyone for getting us here.”