Max Verstappen couldn’t muster more than fourth in the Monaco GP, after extending his final stint to the penultimate lap. Starting from the same position he tried to get Oscar Piastri into the first turn, but decided to back off.
“Yeah, we had nothing to lose,” Verstappen explained his long second stint. “We had a big gap behind, so… Yeah. When I heard it was like 45, 50 seconds or something…
“It was not much. You can pit, of course, and then you just drive by yourself.
“Or you just hope that something happens and you get lucky, but… That didn’t come the whole time. I was not really too… I don’t know. It was just my emotions were very neutral.
“I mean, if I had a safety car, of course, I would have improved more. And that’s more like a relaxed emotion.“
From the perspective of the front runners the extra pit stop in the Monaco GP did not change too much for the race approach, according to Verstappen
“I could have done four stops,” he jokingly said. “But I would have still been too close. Yeah, it’s… For us, at least, up front, it didn’t do anything.”
Poor performance of RB21
Verstappen didn’t feel too good about his RB21 all weekend, struggling with the many slow corners and traction-heavy parts of the street circuit.
“No, I don’t think [we have improved]. We were actually slower than last year in qualifying, so, no, I don’t think we have improved.”
“Yeah, what we wanted to improve was worse.”
Verstappen inadvertently spiced up the battle for the win as he backed up Lando Norris into the clutches of Charles Leclerc. There was however no intent from the Dutchman.
“I had no grip,” was his clear answer. “I was just driving around with the grip that I had from the tyre. But you could see, still you can’t pass.”
Could he have ended up on the podium if he was a bit bolder at the start?
“Honestly, when we think about the championship, I just want to arrange my race. Of course, some tracks, you know, you might be a bit bolder, but it’s all good.
Monaco not a great track for Verstappen
So again Monaco didn’t prove too good of a hunting ground for Verstappen, who won the Monaco GP twice.
“When you look at the whole race, we didn’t have it, basically. To the top three cars, every time I tried to stay with my tyres overheating a bit too much. This is just not our track.
“We all struggled a bit more. I think it was clear that, again, here in Monaco, we struggled a lot, honestly. I mean, here, we have struggled here with this new generation of cars.
“Only in ’22 we had a massive pace in Monaco. All the other years for me, personally, have always been a big struggle. I mean, of course, people always hope for a big upset, but I honestly don’t think it will happen.”
