From the front row of the grid, Max Verstappen had a very disappointing and extremely early ending to his 2026 F1 Monaco GP.
Having qualified P2, with Isack Hadjar backing him up in 5th, Red Bull looked set for a good points haul on Sunday afternoon. While the Frenchman did go on to secure his first podium with the team, it was a short day for the #3.
Max Verstappen on very early end to 2026 F1 Monaco GP
Speaking in the print media pen post-race, the four-time World Champion explained that something already felt off on the formation lap, before the gremlins fully kicked in at the proper start.
“Yeah, formation lap already felt a bit off, but then on the pre-start it was completely off.
“Normally you find your RPM target, but it was not going at all. It was just shooting up and down a lot, a bit weird.
“And then as soon as I dropped the clutch, that was it. The engine bogged down completely. And after that, the noise that I heard from the engine, once I got some power back out of turn 1, it was very bad.
“So I immediately just lifted off and brought it home.”
Asked by trying to turn left at pedestrian pace to try and get out of the way, the 28-year-old was thankful nobody hit him.
“Yeah, I mean, I had no power, right, so I was steering left with the friction of the wheels and the speed. I was just praying that everyone would go right, but everyone luckily reacted very well.”
A disappointing end but positives from it
For the second time in three Grands Prix, the 71-time race winner qualified on the front row. He was less than half a tenth off polesitter Kimi Antonelli, and surprisingly got ahead of the Ferraris after they looked so good in practice.
Max Verstappen took some positives, even if it ended in a brutal DNF at the 2026 F1 Monaco GP.
“Yeah, we had a really good weekend up until the race. Of course, everyone is then very disappointed not to be on the podium.”
Asked about if the season can be turned around, Max Verstappen says getting to the finish is key. In both China and Monaco, he did not make it to the chequered flag because of gremlins.
“I mean, there’s not a lot of turning around. It’s just we need to make sure that, of course, we finish the races. But we first need to understand what went wrong today.
Despite some natural disappointment, Verstappen was in a decent mood afterwards. As he is not a title contender in 2026, a DNF is not as costly as it would have been in the previous five campaigns.
“If I would be leading the championship, then, of course, it’s a very, very painful one. Like this, less painful, but it’s still really annoying and disappointing for everyone.
“We know, of course, everyone wants to finish every single race. But yeah, like this, I just hope that we understand quickly what it is and that we can fix it also in the future.”
