MONTREAL, Canada -- Max Verstappen is not concerned about the gap to Daniel Ricciardo during qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix, saying he was happy to be within 0.25s of his Red Bull team-mate.
Verstappen joined Red Bull ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix, but despite taking the team's only victory of the season on his debut has been outqualified three times by Ricciardo. In Canada, Verstappen was quicker than Ricciardo on the first run in Q3 but lost out by 0.248s on the pair's second attempt.
"I don't think it is a big gap, but like I said, my last run didn't really work out," Verstappen said. "Before that we were making good progress. I am not too worried about that. I am next to a very experienced driver and I think he is probably one of the best on the grid. So to be that close in my third race, I think many people start to forget that.
"I won my first race but that doesn't mean I am straight up to the pace I want to be. I am still learning and this will be a learning year, even though I won a race. Like I said, I have to get use to the car and get everything out of it."
Verstappen said Red Bull's strong performance on the power-sensitive Circuit Gilles Villenueve bodes well for other tracks.
"Definitely. This is not normally the strongest track for us, but we are not too far off. If we go to other tracks again we have a very competitive package."