Max Verstappen says he is sick of being asked about his risk of incurring a race ban.
The Red Bull driver is heading into his first race since reaching 11 penalty points on his superlicence, leaving him one away from the threshold of 12 which triggers an automatic race ban.
He received three penalty points at the last round of the championship in Spain. Verstappen was penalised for colliding with George Russell.
The Mercedes driver beat him to pole position for tomorrow’s race, meaning the pair will share the front row of the grid on Sunday. Russell was quick to call attention to Verstappen’s precarious situation, noting he has “a few more points on my licence to play with” than his rival if the pair find themselves battling for position again.
However Verstappen was unwilling to discuss whether the situation puts him at a disadvantage compared to Russell. “I don’t need to hear it again,” he said in the FIA press conference after qualifying on Saturday. “It’s really pissing me off.
“I mean, you’re speaking about it on Thursday. It’s such a waste of time, it’s very childish.
“So that’s why I also don’t want to say too much because it’s really annoying, this world that we live in.”
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Verstappen, who did not appear in the FIA press conferences on Thursday, was addressing the FIA press conference moderator. He refused to answer a further question relating to penalty points.
Despite missing out on what would have been his fourth pole position of the season, Verstappen said he was pleased with his car’s performance in Montreal.
“The car [is] the same as [in] Barcelona, but I do think the team did a great job. When we arrived, the car was immediately in the right window. So setup-wise, I think the team did a very good job.
“Then, of course, it’s fine-tuning little bits and choosing the right tyres for qualifying. But overall, I’ve been fairly happy with the car, which has definitely been a bit more hit-and-miss for us this season.
“I think we just also need to focus on the overall performance that we maybe are lacking sometimes. But also sometimes we are chasing the balance of the car. So it’s two different things. But this weekend, I felt good, and that’s why I’m also very happy, honestly, to be here today in qualifying.”
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