Max Verstappen struck bird during Canadian GP and ‘almost knocked himself out’

Max Verstappen collided with a rogue bird before nearly ‘knocking himself out’ while driving over a raised kerb during the closing stages of the Canadian Grand Prix. The Dutchman made it four straight victories by taking the chequered flag in Montreal ahead of Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton, extending his lead at the top of the Drivers’ Championship standings to 69 points in the process.

Verstappen managed to keep Alonso at bay on the very first lap and never looked back as he cruised to yet another impressive victory at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, with his most dangerous opponent coming in the form of a bird that he was unable to avoid hitting as he exited the chicane at Turn Eight and Turn Nine.

The bird was stood on the exit kerb and was obliterated by Verstappen’s front wing as he ploughed into it before alerting his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase, telling him: “I think I hit a bird.” His car remained perfectly intact, though, with the bird likely to have come off considerably worse than Verstappen as a result of the collision.

The Red Bull ace had another hairy moment during the closing stages of the race when he bounced the underside of his car on the raised kerb at the apex of Turn Nine. He was given a bumpy ride as he clambered over the rumble strip but managed to avoid picking up any damage to the floor despite being left shaken up as he joked via team radio: “I almost knocked myself out on that kerb!”

JUST IN: Lewis Hamilton trolls Alonso at Canadian GP as rival responds with threat

It seems as though nothing can stop Verstappen from adding to his tally of Grand Prix victories as things stand, with the 25-year-old simply in a league of his own at the very front of the pecking order. He spoke of his delight at completing a century of wins for Red Bull in Formula One after Sunday’s race, although he was quick to insist that it was not as simple as it looked over the course of the 70-lap contest.

“I’m very happy right now,” he told Sky Sports F1. “It was not a very straightforward race as the tyres were not getting into their window. It was very cold compared to Friday, we were sliding, but we made it work and to win the 100th race for the team is pretty incredible.

“It’s amazing. I never expected to be on these kind of number myself as well. We keep enjoying it and keep working hard. Today has been a great day again.

“I expected more or less what we had today but it was really difficult to keep the temperature into the tyres, so there was not much grip. Maybe that was why the gap was not that big.”

Follow our Express Sport page on Instagram here.