Verstappen issues threat to McLaren in Monaco as 'stronger' Ferrari surprises

19:40, 23 May

Updated: 19:57, 23 May

byNorberto Mujica

Max Verstappen finished P2 in the morning practice session of the first day of on track activity in Monaco. However, his performance dwindled in FP2, and the Dutchman reveals why.

In a press release issued by Red Bull Racing, Verstappen explained the reason for the pace loss after a rather successful FP1. “I think FP1 was quite positive, but then we made some changes for FP2 to see how far basically we could push the balance,” said Verstappen, who finished in P10 with teammate Yuki Tsunoda right behind him in P11.

Verstappen's RB21 bleeding pace in Monaco

In FP1 however, things looked much better with Verstappen placing P2 just 0.163s behind Charles Leclerc. In FP2 the gap was of over seven tenths to the Monegasque, who found himself in great form leading both sessions ominously.

“I think we just overdid it a little bit, so then I just couldn’t really attack the corners anymore how I would like, then you’re just shedding a lot of pace and the lap time was basically not coming out of it.”

Thus, the Dutchman does not expect a miracle, with Ferrari looking as might as they are in Monte Carlo.

“I don’t expect us to be the quickest. We want to be of course a lot closer than what we were in FP2. I’m also quite confident that we can be a lot closer, but Ferrari again looks very, very fast."

“The McLarens were quite close behind, but if you see over the whole season the pace, I think Ferrari again took a big step forward here.”

Friday has revealed who the key players of the weekend are, and at Red Bull Racing they will be happy to see Verstappen's name among them. Nevertheless competition for pole and thus the win, appears to be fierce by the looks of the first two practice sessions of the weekend.