Victory in Montreal for Red Bull driver Max Verstappen is all the more impressive considering he contested most of the Canadian Grand Prix with a bird’s corpse under his car.
On Sunday, the leader of the Formula 1 drivers’ standings met the poor bird in the 11th of the 70 laps of the race. He brought this to the attention of his team.
Also read: F1: Canadian GP attendance record
Also read: A difficult Canadian Grand Prix for Lance Stroll aboard his Aston Martin
Also read: Equal to Senna: Max Verstappen wins the Canadian Grand Prix and the 41st victory of his career
However, the bird’s body got stuck in the right brake duct of Verstappen’s single-seater and remained there until the end of hostilities at the Gilles-Villeneuve circuit.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner stressed his driver’s ability to handle any situation when asked about the tetrapod vertebrate incident.
“It was a race where he was really, really in control,” he said.
It’s also not the first time Verstappen has hit an animal in his F1 car. At the 2021 Italian Grand Prix he had put an end to the days of a squirrel. This time the Dutchman took second place in the race.