Verstappen relief after dead heat with Russell

Max Verstappen was happy to settle for second on the grid for the Canadian Grand Prix after finishing in a dead heat with George Russell following a stunning qualifying session at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

Russell's banker lap of 1:12.000 after the first run in the top-10 shoot-out was matched by Verstappen who was the only driver to improve his time on the second runs.

But as the second to post the time, it means Red Bull's three-time champion wlll line up second on the grid - a position he is actually happy with.

Reflecting on only the second dead heat in F1 qualifying since the sport switched to three decimal places, Verstappen said: "It's how it is, right.

"Overall we had a good qualifying. The whole weekend has been a bit tricky for us but to be P2, I'll take it. Going into qualifying, I would have definitely have taken that.

"That it was that close at the end makes it really exciting for tomorrow as well."

Verstappen bemoans lack of build up

Verstappen often bemoaned issues with his RB20 throughout practice, notably suffering an ERS failure in FP2, but managed to hook up the car in qualifying.

What was not an issue it seemed was the car's kerb riding, which emerged as a major issue.

"I felt good in Monaco but it was not our track, it was not happening for us," said Verstappen. "This weekend, again, we didn't have a great build up to today.

"It will be quite an interesting race with the tyres, how they are going to fare, the weather as well, which keeps on coming in and out, with the rain. Hopefully it will be very exciting."

As to whether he would attack Russell at the start or play the long game, he replied: "I don't know, we'll think about it. I'm not stressed about it."