Red Bull advisor Dr Helmut Marko says his team is lucky that Ferrari started further back in the order in Canada.
The Italian squad endured a difficult qualifying session, with Charles Leclerc failing to advance beyond Q2.
Carlos Sainz qualified in eighth place but was shuffled back three positions after he was found guilty of impeding Alpine’s Pierre Gasly during the session.
However, during the race, both Ferrari cars showed strong pace and successfully executed a one-stop strategy to finish in fourth and fifth respectively.
Up at the front of the field, Max Verstappen was kept on his toes by Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton, with the Dutchman’s lap time margin lower than in previous races this year.
Marko has suggested that if Ferrari started the race further up the order, Red Bull would’ve had a tough task on its hands.
“It wasn’t easy, we had problems with the Hard tyres to get them up to temperature. The race was harder than we thought,” Marko told ServusTV.
“But luckily Ferrari started further back, as they were fastest on both sets of tyres.”
Verstappen’s route to victory wasn’t smooth sailing, as early on in the race, he hit a bird.
Red Bull boss Christian Horner revealed after the race that the bird remained lodged in his braking system for the remainder of the race.
He also had a moment over a kerb that threatened to pitch him into the wall in a similar fashion to George Russell, who suffered significant damage earlier in the grand prix.
“Maybe he was looking at the TV screens, he often does that,” said Marko, speaking about Verstappen’s mistake.
“But it’s incredible what kind of overview Max has and what kind of overcapacity he has.”
