Max Verstappen was forced to drive a majority of the Canadian Grand Prix with a dead bird lodged in his front brake duct.
Shortly after the start of the race, Verstappen reported over the team radio that he had hit a bird.
At the time, the Dutchman was leading the race and the collision could’ve created problems if damage was caused to the car or if the obstruction overheated the brakes.
However, Verstappen was able to control the race en route to his sixth win of the 2023 Formula 1 campaign.
The two-time World Champion complained about varying levels grip during the grand prix, but Horner says the most significant moment he suffered was his collision with the bird.
“There were some changes going into yesterday and from what I could hear in the race, I think other drivers were struggling as well,” he said.
“They struggled to get temperature into the car and generating the energy when there’s only sort of six corners here and long straights.
“To get the heat into the tyre, you could see the lap times were quite variable for all of the drivers at certain points in time where they could generate tyre temperatures.
“But he was able to manage that. The biggest moment he had was hitting a bird that did half the race behind the front right brake duct. But a very very controlled race by him.”
When asked to clarify that the bird was lodged in the brake duct, Horner replied: “Yes, the remains of the bird.”
Verstappen has extended his championship lead over team-mate Perez to 69 points after the Mexican ended the race in sixth.
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