It’s really not Max Verstappen’s year at the moment as fresh from his Mercedes car breaking down at the Nurburgring 24 hour race while in the lead, he runs into instant trouble on his Formula 1 return.

Verstappen has yet to score a podium in F1 this season, with this Red Bull car struggling to be competitive with regular front runners Mercedes, McLaren and Ferrari.

Any hopes of the four-time world champion getting back to the front at this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix though took an unusual blow in sprint qualifying at the Gilles Villeneuve Circuit in Montreal.

The Dutchman could only line up seventh place for Saturday’s sprint race and half-a-second down on pole sitter George Russell, albeit still ahead of team-mate Isack Hadjar by a tenth.

Verstappen’s slippy feet

Verstappen had looked quick in all sections of the track but not at the same. Unlike his usual high standards he was not consistent in putting a fast lap together.

However, in his post-session interview, the 28-year-old revealed the bizarre reason he couldn’t get a full clean lap.

“My feeling in the car was not very good,” he said.

“I was struggling a lot with the ride of the car. I couldn’t put my foot down, my feet were flying off the pedals. It made it very difficult to be consistent.

“That is something we need to investigate. We are stuck with that for the sprint. Hopefully it will be better for qualifying.”

Verstappen F1 2026 results

Verstappen’s season has been a frustrating one where he hasn’t finished inside the top four once in any format.

In the last race in Miami he took a fifth place in the sprint, having taken ninth and no points in first sprint of the season in China.

Grand prix wise, he has finished sixth in Australia, eighth in Japan and fifth in Miami while also retiring in China.

Heading into Saturday’s sprint race in Canada, he sits seventh in the championship a huge 74 points behind leader Kimi Antonelli.