A very disappointed Jos Verstappen says Red Bull did little to bring his son to the front of the race in Monaco, having opted for a strategy that was "completely in favour" of race winner Sergio Perez.
After the Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz had dominated the first stage of the race, Red Bull opted to pit Perez early on lap 16 for a switch from the wet tyres to the intermediates, while Verstappen was brought in two laps later.
When all was said and done, the call, combined with the Scuderia's ill-timed stops, placed Perez at the head of the field in front of Sainz, with Verstappen in third place ahead of Leclerc.
Jos Verstappen reckons that Red Bull should have been more aggressive with the championship leader regarding its pit stop strategy.
"As a father I was also disappointed with the race," the former F1 driver told the official Verstappen website. "Max’s third place was very disappointing.
"We all saw that it was a difficult weekend for him. It starts with the car, which simply doesn’t have the characteristics for his driving style yet.
"Max has far too little grip front end grip. And especially in Monaco, with all its tight corners, you need a car that turns very quickly. That was just hard."
Although the Milton Keynes-based outfit achieved a great result overall, Verstappen Sr said the team did little to help his son secure a better result.
"Red Bull achieved a good result, but at the same time exerted little influence on helping Max to the front. That he finished third, he owes to Ferrari’s mistake at that second stop of Charles.
"The championship leader, Max, was not helped in that sense by the chosen strategy. It turned completely in Checo’s favour.
"That was disappointing to me, and I would have liked it to be different for the championship leader."
Verstappen argued that Red Bull knew the benefit of switching early to the inters after monitoring the pace of AlphaTauri's Pierre Gasly who bolted on a set of intermediates after just two laps.
"Pérez actually won the race because of the earlier pit stop," added Max's father. "The team can perhaps explain that as a gamble, but they had already seen, with for example Gasly, that the intermediates were the best option at that time.
"I would have liked them to go for Max, but of course I am not entirely objective.
"I think 10 points for Max were thrown away. Especially with the two retirements we had [in Bahrain and in Melbourne], we need every point.
"Don’t forget that Ferrari currently has a better car, especially in qualifying."
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