Verstappen led every lap on his way to claiming what appeared to be a routine sixth win of the seasonඣ as he equalled Ayrton Senna’s career total of 41 victories. 

But Verstappen’s route to taking his fourth consecutive win was💃 not entirely straightforward, with the Dutchman striking a bird while ex🤪iting the Turn 8/9 chicane. 

“I think I hit 𒀰a bird!” Verstappen was heard telling his team over the radio during Sunday’s 70-lap race𝓡. 

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner revealed that the remains of the bird that Verstappen hit got stuck be🎐hind the front right brake of his RB19 for the rest of the race. 

“There were some changes going into yesterday and from what I could hear in the race, I think other ಌdrivers were struggling as well,” Horner said. 

“They struggled to get temperature into th🦩e 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.&n⛄bsp;

“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 co🐭🌃ntrolled race by him.”

Asked to clarify if the bird was lodged in the brake duct, Horn𝔍er replied: “Yes, the remains of the bird.”

Verstappen had another hair-raising m𓆏oment later in the race at the same chicane as he experienced a bumpy r🍨ide over the kerbs. 

"I almost knocked myself out on that kerb!” Verstappen ch🌳uckled.