Racing
© Morio
Max Verstappen arrives at the Canadian Grand Prix with three straight wins in Montreal, but this year’s race at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve looks very different because Red Bull’s troubled new power unit is heading to one of Formula 1’s most power-sensitive tracks.
That contrast is what makes this weekend so significant. Verstappen turned Canada into a recent stronghold by winning in 2022, 2023 and 2024, joining Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher as the only drivers to win the event three years in a row. His 2023 victory was especially emphatic, with the Dutchman leading all 70 laps.
Those results changed the shape of his record in Montreal. Before the breakthrough in 2022, Verstappen had gone years at the circuit without a win despite showing pace there. The explanation offered was that Red Bull’s earlier car concept was heavily loaded toward high-speed corners, while Montreal’s long straights and heavy braking zones tend to reward power and stopping efficiency more than pure aerodynamic grip.
The concern now is that the same characteristics could hurt Red Bull even more under the 2026 rules. The team’s first season as an in-house power-unit constructor with Ford has been described as tough, with the RB22 struggling from the outset. Across the opening races, Red Bull’s best result was a single fifth-place finish in Miami.
Montreal may therefore expose the team’s biggest weakness. The 2026 regulations place enormous emphasis on energy deployment, and the new Straight Mode aerodynamics make the long back straight an even more decisive battleground. On a circuit where power unit performance already matters, that raises the pressure on Red Bull even further.
It also helps explain why Mercedes heads into the weekend as the reference point. George Russell won in Canada in 2025, and Kimi Antonelli leads the 2026 championship by a commanding margin as Mercedes has emerged as the class of the field under the new regulations. On paper, Montreal’s layout should suit that package.
That leaves Verstappen relying on the factor that has kept him in the fight so often before: his ability to handle chaos. Montreal has produced changeable races in the past, and Verstappen’s wet-weather reputation means shifting conditions could give him a route back into contention. Without that kind of disruption, though, a circuit he has mastered in recent years may present his toughest ask of the season so far.