Max Verstappen feels he can atta🦹ck from the front of the second row after qualifying third for the Canadian Grand Prix as he eyes up a victory shot having demonstrated impressive race pace for Red Bull.

The Dutch driver came into the weekend surrounded by criticisms after being involved in six clashes at the past six rounds, while he said he might “headb෴utt someone” during t🐠he FIA press conference responding to questions on his high-profile incidents.

Having topped all three free practice sessions in Montreal, Verstappen qualified third fastest behind Ferrari’s Sebastian V༒ettel and Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas – putting his drop in speed down to Renault’s lack of top speed – but is “very happy” to start from the front of row two.

“We🐷 extracted the bes🍬t we could out of qualifying,” Verstappen said. “We knew in Q3 it would be a bit harder for us but to be still so close was good.

“The car all weekend has been really strong, every se🎃ssion we made progress with the car and I’m feeling confident on the track. I’m very happy.

“I think we have a really good car. We knew that in Q3 and in general throughout the whole year with the car, we’re just lacking power. We’re trying to compensate for that. I think it showed in Monaco that we have a great car𓃲 and again here. With the long straight𓂃s, it’s hard to fight for pole position.

Verstappꦰen also holds strong faith in Red Bull’s race pace to take the fight to Ferrari and Mercedes as he aims to use his alternative strategy starting on the Hypersoft tyres with his closest rivals on the Ultrasoft compounds to ꦫstart the race.

“In the race, it all calms down a bit, which is why in general we are always a bi🍎t more competitive,” he said.

Verstappen recover🉐ed from a back of the grid start to take ninth place in Monaco following his FP3 crash which fo🍨rced him out of qualifying last time out.