Max Verstappen Killed A Bird And Still Won The Canadian Grand Prix

Are you happy, Max? Photo: Gongora/NurPhoto (Getty Images)

Formula 1 was in Montreal this weekend for the 2023 Canadian Grand prix. As with most races so far this season, the fight for second position and below was quite exciting, especially with Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso battling it out for 70 laps. But the race for the win was, once again, dominated by the Red Bull of Max Verstappen. But, his win this weekend wasn’t as simple as his other victories this year, despite him notching up a ten second lead over second place Alonso, as mother nature appeared to be fighting against Verstappen’s domination of the sport.

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According to Motorsport.com, the Red Bull driver struck a bird on the 11th lap of the 70 lap race. The incident happened just after the virtual safety car was deployed while marshals cleared away the stricken Williams of Logan Sargeant. The site reports that Verstappen radioed into the pit wall to report the bird strike, which he hit on the exit to one of the track’s 14 corners. The collision didn’t appear to cause any “major damage” to the Dutchman’s car, the site reports, and Verstappen was able to carry on. According to Motorsport.com:

“However, during post-race inspections when his RB19 was returned to the garage, Red Bull found that the remains of the animal had got stuck in the area around the front right brake duct.

“Team boss Christian Horner said: ‘I think the biggest moment he had was hitting that bird, which just did half the race behind the front right brake duct’.”

Spot the bird. Photo: Jared C. Tilton (Getty Images)

In his post race interviews, Verstappen even reported seeing the mangled remains of the bird stuck in the front of his car. He told broadcaster Sky “It was still stuck on my car when I came in, it didn’t look great!”

I’m not sure how much time a bird lodged in a brake duct can take off an F1 car, are you? But, as Red Bull look set to dominate this year, circuits might need to think of a new way of slowing Verstappen down if they want to keep the race exciting.