Max Verstappen says his troubled Red Bull RB20 just can’t deal with Monaco’s kerbs, a handicap that significantly hindered the Dutchman's efforts in qualifying on Saturday.
The Dutchman’s reign of dominance in the grid-defining session came to an abrupt end in the Principality, with the championship leader clocking in a lowly P6 in Q3, 0.297 adrift of Ferrari poleman Charles Leclerc.
Red Bull’s compliance and suspension issues around Monte Carlo’s bumpy track were at the forefront of Verstappen’s complaints from the outset of free practice on Friday.
Unfortunately, despite the team’s efforts to mitigate the problem overnight, Verstappen noted little improvement in FP3.
While Leclerc stole the show, the three-time world champion stayed close throughout Q1 and Q2. But a critical mistake at the first corner on his final Q3 flyer proved costly.
“I’m not disappointed with the position, I’m just disappointed with our performance,” Verstappen told Sky after qualifying.
“It’s not something that came as a surprise to me because I knew, of course, our limitations already coming into this weekend.
“It’s been bad,” he added. “I can’t take any kerbs. In the middle sector I’m driving around the kerbs and it honestly feels like I’m driving a go-kart with no suspension and no damping. So it’s very difficult for us.
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“I felt really comfortable in the high-speed corners, at least that was enjoyable. But in the lows we were just losing too much.”
“You can gain in a few places, but we lose out way too much in all the low-speed where it’s bumpy and the car is just jumping around.”
Verstappen fears that Monaco won’t be the only track where he’ll enjoy a challenging bumpy ride this season.
“There are a few more tracks coming up where it’s bumpy and you need to ride kerbs,” he said. “So it’s definitely a limitation for us.
“Looking at tomorrow, if it’s just a straightforward race then there’s not that much that you can do. The cars are so wide, so big that you can’t pass. But we’ll just try to stick with them.
“We don’t have the fastest car, it’s not like we qualified out of position. So there’s also not like a pace advantage or whatever that we can use. But we’ll see what happens.”
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