Max Verstappen was required to drive a bulk of the Canadian Grand Prix with a dead bird lodged in his front brake duct.
Shortly after the start of the race, Verstappen reported over the group radio that he had actually struck a bird.
At the time, the Dutchman was leading the race and the crash might’ve developed issues if damage was triggered to the car or if the blockage overheated the brakes.
However, Verstappen had the ability to manage the race en path to his 6th win of the 2023 Formula 1 campaign.
The two-time World Champion grumbled about differing levels grip throughout the grand prix, however Horner says the most considerable minute he suffered was his crash with the bird.
“There were some changes going into yesterday and from what I could hear in the race, I think other drivers were struggling as well,” he said.
“To get the heat into the tire, you might see the lap times were rather variable for all of the drivers at particular moments where they might create tire temperature levels.
“But he was able to manage that. The biggest moment he had was hitting a bird that did half the race behind the front right brake duct. But a very very controlled race by him.”
When asked to clarify that the bird was lodged in the brake duct, Horner responded: “Yes, the remains of the bird.”
Verstappen has actually extended his champion lead over team-mate Perez to 69 points after the Mexican ended the race in 6th.
