13/06/2017
NEWS STORY
Max Verstappen's energy store failure during Sunday's Canadian Grand Prix marked the youngster's third DNF of the season. A brake issue in Bahrain was followed by the first lap clash with Kimi Raikkonen and Valtteri Bottas.
Consequently, seven races into the season, the Red Bull driver is sixth in the standings, just one point ahead of Sergio Perez, with Esteban Ocon closing in fast.
A superb start in Canada, albeit involving parting Sebastian Vettel with a substantial part of his wing, looked set to provide the Dutch teenager with his second podium of the season, instead the youngster watched from the sidelines as teammate Daniel Ricciardo joined the Mercedes duo on the rostrum.
Furthermore, with no sign of the upgraded Renault engine, Max's difficult season looks set to continue, no wonder he regards it as crap.
"Suddenly all the power was gone," he told Dutch broadcaster Ziggo Sport. "I wanted to go on the throttle and everything shut down, including my dash, so I couldn't even communicate with the team anymore.
"That's very frustrating when you are in second," he continued. "The start was great. I think it was the best start that they ever had at Red Bull, so that was good. But in the end you are still left empty-handed, so that sucks tremendously. I could have finished second. Or third, if things turned out a little bit less for me. It's completely crap, really"
Asked about the prospects for Baku, he sighed: "I don't care too much. The whole season has already been crap.
"You are in second place," he continued, "you know that the car isn't good enough for that position, but today you could have held on to that. Considering how difficult it was to overtake, we would have been able to achieve this.
"It wasn't even a fight, because I was driving away from him," he said of Bottas, who was running third at the time of his retirement, the Finn subsequently joining his Mercedes teammate on the podium.