"He thinks he's Max Verstappen": Williams junior Victor Martins furious at McLaren prodigy for a major pile up in F2 Monaco GP race

Four-time F1 world champion Max Verstappen was dragged into a heated outburst by Williams junior driver Victor Martins. He accused McLaren prodigy Alex Dunne of defending aggressively in F2's feature race in Monaco, which led to a major pile-up crash.

The F2 feature race held in Monaco on Sunday, May 25, saw a horrifying start. As many as 12 cars crashed at turn 1, with several vehicles ending up stacked on top of each other.

The pile-up was triggered after a collision between Alex Dunne and Victor Martins at the race start. Dunne had a poor start from P1, and he tried to defend his position against Victor Martins, who was looking to overtake from P2. Dunne's front wing clipped the side of Martins’ car, sending both spinning into the barriers and setting off a chain reaction.

Meanwhile, Martins was fuming after the red flag. He took a jab at Dunne's aggressive move by likening it to the bold driving style of the four-time F1 world champion Max Verstappen.

"Who does he think he is, Max Verstappen?"

As a result of the pileup crash, as many as seven drivers had to retire, namely Alex Dunne, Victor Martins, Richard Verschoor, Gabriele Mini, Ritomo Miyata, Pepe Marti, and Max Esterson.

While the race resumed, damage to tech pro barriers caused another red flag, and the event was eventually called off. Jak Crawford, who was leading the race during the second red flag, was handed a victory.

Previously, Kush Maini of India won the F2 sprint race racing for Dams Lucas Oil. In the feature race, however, he settled for P6 amid chaotic circumstances.

Verstappen, meanwhile, will be seen in action later today in the 2025 Monaco Grand Prix at the exact same track of Circuit de Monaco. He will start from P4 as the qualifying round didn't go his way.

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Max Verstappen opens up on Red Bull's unresolved issues at Monaco

Max Verstappen at F1 2025 Monaco Grand Prix - Source: Getty

Four-time world champion Max Verstappen qualified P5 at the qualifying round of the 2025 Monaco Grand Prix in what turned out to be a disappointing session. At first, he was impeded by Lewis Hamilton, and in Q3, he struggled with grip over low-speed corners.

After the session, Verstappen revealed that Red Bull has been unable to resolve issues faced at Monaco's low-speed corners since 2022. Talking to Motorsportweek, he said:

"We’re just weak in low speed, and then also where you have to take kerbs and the camber drops away from you. That’s why our car doesn’t like that; it’s never liked it and still doesn’t like it. It doesn’t matter what you do with the setup, and that’s our problem. It’s always been our problem from the start of 22', and it’s still our problem."

However, Verstappen was promoted to P4 after Hamilton received a three-place grid penalty for impeding the Red Bull driver in Q1.