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Max Verstappen hopes for drama in the Monaco GP to help him capitalize during the race. The Dutchman felt he had a difficult weekend and lost out on a good qualification result due to the red flag that ended the qualifying session.
Outlining his expectations from the race, the reigning world champion said:
“It depends on what the weather will do as well. But hopefully a little bit of chaos will be nice. If its not you just try to score the most possible points in the position I would be in. But overall its been a bit of a tricky weekend.”
With Monaco being a challenging circuit to overtake on, chaotic moments are the only opportunities for drivers to capitalize on. The Red Bull champion feels that this might be his opportunity to make up for a poor qualifying result, which was the outcome of the red flag brought out by his teammate Sergio Perez and former teammate Carlos Sainz. Despite the red flag, the 24-year-old driver is in an odd spot for the race as he starts in fourth whilst his Mexican teammate starts in third.
Explaining his qualifying performance, Max Verstappen said:
“Of course not. But I think we were improving. We were trying a few things with the car in practice, which didn’t really give me a good feeling, so we went back on a few things. But then I also tried to make it better for qualifying, and I do think that it was a bit better – but then of course Q3 is all where you have to go to the limit, right?”
The Dutchman has scored three consecutive victories prior to the Monaco GP.
Max Verstappen believes he had the pace to perform better in qualifying
Prior to the red flag brought out by his teammate crashing into the barrier, Max Verstappen was on a flying lap with a competitive first sector. However, the red flag meant that Verstappen had to abort his lap, which resulted in a fourth-place qualification for the race.
Explaining the final moments of the qualifying session in Monaco, the Dutchman said:
“I was actually looking a bit better. I opted for a different strategy in my final run which I think was good for me because I couldn’t switch on my tyres on the first timed lap. So, the second timed lap I did after a cool [a cool-down lap]. It was good, I was up on my lap, it was all feeling good, but then of course I saw the roadblock in Turn 8. It’s unlucky, it’s Monaco. We just have to deal with it, accept it, and move from there.”
Despite leading the drivers' championship after a win in Spain, carrying the momentum forward into Monaco will be vital for the Dutchman. Max Verstappen currently leads Charles Leclerc by a narrow margin of six points. With the Ferrari driver on pole, it will be important for Red Bull to strategize the Dutch champion’s race so he can extend his lead and continue the streak of victories he has had so far.
