Verstappen: Boring Monaco GP “wasn’t really racing”

Verstappen says the Monaco GP was “not really racing”

Max Verstappen says he had a “boring” Monaco GP and that he was running so far off the pace that it was “not really racing”.

The Red Bull driver qualified sixth after the RB19 struggled over the principality’s bumps and kerbs.

Like several other drivers he started on the hard tyre with the aim of going long, only for the first lap red flag to give the entire field a free change of tyres.

After spending most of the race behind George Russell, who was pacing himself to preserve his medium tyres, the Dutchman finished in the same position in which he started.

“Of course after the red flag our strategy was a bit ruined,” he said when asked by this writer about his race.

“Because then we had to put the medium to the end, because everybody had a free stop. And that meant that we had to save a lot. Just tried to follow George.

“We were massively off the pace is trying to manage the tyre. And of course, it’s quite boring out there, you’re driving literally, half-throttle on the straights in some places, a gear higher than you would normally do. Four seconds off the pace, more or less. So that’s not really racing, of course.”

Verstappen admitted that the difficult race was just as anticipated after practice and qualifying.

“It’s quite realistic, of course, after our struggles the whole weekend,” he said. “So it’s no surprise. It’s not the first time that I’ve been in this position, only of course the last few years, maybe a little bit less.

“Overall it’s been a really, really bad weekend for us. I guess the only positive out of it is that we know what our weakness is – really know what our weakness is.

“And if we can improve that only by a little bit already, we will gain a lot of lap time. So yeah, there’s a lot of room for improvement. And if we can sort that out, then our car really comes alive again.”

Regarding prospects for Montreal, where kerb riding is a key factor, he said: “I mean, we have to wait and see. New surface as well, I think, that might always give you some surprises.

“It’s probably also not going to be our strongest weekend because of that. But probably a little bit better than here.”