Verstappen led every lap on his method to declaring what seemed a regular 6th win of the season as he equated to Ayrton Senna’s profession overall of 41 success.
But Verstappen’s path to taking his 4th successive win was not totally simple, with the Dutchman striking a bird while leaving the Turn 8/9 chicane.
“I think I hit a bird!” Verstappen was heard informing his group over the radio throughout Sunday’s 70-lap race.
Red Bull group principal Christian Horner revealed that the remains of the bird that Verstappen hit got stuck behind the front right brake of his RB19 for the remainder of the race.
“There were some changes going into yesterday and from what I could hear in the race, I think other drivers were struggling as well,” Horner said.
“They struggled to get temperature into the car and generating the energy when there’s only sort of six corners here and long straights.
“To get the heat into the tyre, you could see the lap times were quite variable for all of the drivers at certain points in time where they could generate tyre temperatures.
“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.”
Asked to clarify if the bird was lodged in the brake duct, Horner responded: “Yes, the remains of the bird.”
Verstappen had another hair-raising minute later on in the race at the very same chicane as he experienced a rough flight over the kerbs.
“I almost knocked myself out on that kerb!” Verstappen laughed.
