Verstappen: We know ‘what our weakness is’

Max Verstappen has outlined the one positive of the Monaco Grand Prix for Red Bull whilst Helmut Marko admits consequences of Sergio Perez’s crash.

After placing sixth in Saturday’s qualifying session, Max Verstappen struggled to make any inroads towards the front in Sunday Monaco Grand Prix. Red Bull’s number one car spent the whole race sandwiched between the two Mercedes, unable to overtake.

Following Sergio Perez’s lap one crash involving both Haas cars, the three-time world champion’s tyre strategy also took a major blow. After the Red Flag was waved, Verstappen was forced to change his hard tyres and complete the remaining 76 laps on a set of mediums.

Disappointing trip to Monte Carlo

After returning to winning ways in Imola, Red Bull were hoping to extend their lead in both the Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championship Standings with victory in Monte Carlo. However, not for the first time this season, the RB20 proved difficult to drive for both Verstappen and Perez.

Following Qualifying, the Dutchman described the car as similar to a “go-kart with no suspension” whilst speaking to SkyF1. His teammate also said the team had “nothing to hope for” before the race.

Ultimately, the Mexican was correct, and the Milton Keynes-based team recorded a lowly eight points over the weekend. After the race, Verstappen told the media, including PlanetF1, what went wrong for Red Bull at the “boring” Monaco Grand Prix:

“Of course, after the red flag, our strategy was a bit ruined. Because then we had to put the medium to the end, because everyone had a free stop, and that meant that we have to save a lot.

“You know, I just tried to follow George [Russell]. We were massively off the pace, I was trying to manage the tyre.

“Of course, it was quite boring out there, you know, you’re driving literally half throttle on the straights, some places a gear higher than you would normally do. Yeah, four seconds off the pace more or less.

“So that’s not really racing.”

However, Verstappen did continue to outline the one positive of Red Bull’s weekend, saying:

“I guess the only positive out of it is that we 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.”

Despite their woes on the streets of Monaco, Red Bull still sit 24 points clear atop the Constructors’ Championship Standings.

Ascent to Casino a costly Red Bull trip

Following a crash involving Perez, Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg, the Red Flag was waved after only half of lap of Sunday’s race. As the trio ascended Beau Rivage, Magnussen saw the gap ahead of him quickly vanish, clipping the Mexican driver’s rear right tyre and propelling him into a spin, which then collected an unsuspecting Hulkenberg. The Danish driver has moved perilously close to a race ban in recent weeks following several instances of dangerous driving.

"That is a MONSTER of an accident!" ?

A look at the huge crash between Perez and both Haas drivers which caused a red flag – thankfully all three drivers are out of the cars and are fine ✅ pic.twitter.com/Df10hRTSIf

— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) May 26, 2024

The crash is set to cost Red Bull a significant amount in damages. Only the driver’s survival cell survived Perez’s crash with three tyres being dismantled from the Red Bull car.

Speaking to Sky Deutschland after the race, Red Bull Director Helmut Marko revealed the estimated cost of Sunday’s damages. Marko said:

“I was surprised how quickly they put this incident behind them. These are decisions that you can hardly influence, but it was just dangerous.”

Marko continued explaining just how expensive the crash is, saying:

“This is costing us about two to three million and with the budget cap that is of course a big handicap.”

The Monaco Grand Prix is the second time that a Red Bull car has failed to finish a race in 2024 after Verstappen’s retirement on lap four of the Australian Grand Prix. The team only experienced two DNF’s in the whole of the 2023 season.

With the gap between Ferrari and Red Bull now shrinking, the championship fight could be a lot closer than last year.

Headline image: GettyImages