To make matters worse for Horner and company, Red Bull's rivals pounced on the team's poor weekend, with Charles Leclerc's victory on home soil helping to leave Ferrari just 24 points adrift in the constructors' championship.
“We have to wait and see, new surface as well I think, that might also give us some surprises," Verstappen said when previewing the upcoming grand prix.
"But it is probably also not going to be our strongest weekend because of that. But probably a little bit better than [Monaco].
“[We struggle with] any track that is bumpy or has kerbs, or you have to ride a lot of kerbs, so the street circuits will probably be a little bit tricky. But hopefully, by then we have a little bit of understanding of what is going on."
Horner, meanwhile, pointed towards the team's previous success at the circuit as cause for optimism, but did express concern over the pace of Red Bull's rivals.
"It's a track that we've performed well at previously, they've resurfaced the whole circuit again, so let's see," Horner explained.
“But Ferrari, McLaren, they're quick. It was always going to happen that there was going to be convergence."
Verstappen won the last two editions of the Canadian Grand Prix in 2022 and 2023 respectively on his way to securing his second and third world championships.
In total, Red Bull have been victorious at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on four occasions, with Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo having won the race for the team there in 2013 and 2014 respectively.