Low confidence for Perez? 'Hopefully it won't be as violent as Monaco'

With a new contract in his pocket at Red Bull Racing, Sergio Perez wants to show at the Canadian Grand Prix that he deserves this commitment. In any case, the Mexican will then have to work hard for it, is his own prediction. Whereas until not so long ago the Austrian racing stable was labelled the big favourite at every track, with Ferrari and McLaren in increasingly better shape, that is no longer a given. Perez therefore expects an extremely tough weekend.

Max Verstappen already hinted that the layout of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is not ideal for Red Bull. Perez added: "I hope it's not as severe as it was in Monaco with the right issues that we had there. We've done some work, some analysis, and I think it's great to have straightaway sort of a similar challenge to Monaco in many aspects. So it will be an interesting one, but I do expect us to be a little bit stronger. I don't think it will be our strongest track, but I really hope that we can be fighting up there.."

To drive the optimal lap - as in Monaco and Imola - it is necessary to use the kerbs in Montreal. This is precisely what Perez's RB20 is struggling with. "I don't think it's going to be as extreme as it was in Monaco. But obviously, it's a track where you need to ride the kerbs."

For all drivers, it will be a matter of waiting to see what the new asphalt on the track will be like. "We always find out when we get on track. Sometimes they've done a lot of resurfacing and the track is pretty much the same. So we'll see if that has changed compared to last year," Perez said.