Verstappen in 'form of his life' after winning 'tough' Sainz battle

Christian Horner believes Max Verstappen is in the 'form of his life' after his Red Bull driver held off Carlos Sainz around the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve to win the Canadian Grand Prix.

After a late safety car, Verstappen was put under significant pressure by Sainz in the closing stages of the race and really felt the pace of the Ferrari behind him.

Verstappen's triumph at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve was his sixth P1 finish of the season and Horner hailed his driver's work on race day.

"Max is in the form of his life and the team are doing a great job," Red Bull's team principal said.

"All credit to Carlos today, he pushed Max really, really hard. But Max was absolutely clinical; it was a really impressive drive

"We actually lost communication with the car! It was one-way traffic, he could hear us but we couldn't hear him... I guess he didn't need to hear us too much."

Verstappen holds a 46-point lead at the top of the Drivers' Championship standings - the largest cushion any driver has enjoyed so far this season.

Despite that, Red Bull's boss is not looking too far ahead and remains solely focused on the next race in Silverstone on July 1-3.

"Silverstone is one of the best circuits on the calendar, it's going to be a record crowd again this year and we're looking forward to seeing everyone there," Horner said.

"I'm sure there will be huge support for the Mercedes drivers but we're going there fired up and trying to put right what happened last year."

On team radio after Verstappen's victory, his race engineer described his work as a 'world champion's drive'. The 24-year-old felt he had been forced to work hard to secure maximum points.

"In general, quite a tough race for us. I was hoping for a little bit more pace