F1 News, Reports and Race Results

'I should have been on the limit' - Verstappen

Max Verstappen believes his crash in Q1 at the Monaco Grand Prix was as a result of him not being on the limit at the time.

The Red Bull driver clipped the inside barrier at the second part of the Swimming Pool section, breaking his front right track rod and proceeding to go straight on to hit the wall at the exit of the corner. With the incident coming early in qualifying, Verstappen says he should have been pushing harder to avoid such a mistake.

"Pretty simple," Verstappen said. "I turned in a bit too early, slightly touched the inside barrier and broke the track rod, couldn’t steer anymore and just ran straight into the barrier.

"You don’t want that to happen, especially in Q1 when you have a car that is comfortably top 4, so it is not what you want.

"Yes you can call it [a mistake]. Miscalculation. Just turned in a fraction too early, just slightly touched the barrier.

"I was not full risk because if you are on the limit you would lock up or go wide, but I turned in too early, so that means maybe I was not on the limit. I should have been on the limit."

As a result of the incident Verstappen will start from 21st on the grid and when asked where he feels he would have qualified the Dutch driver replied: "Top 4.

"Daniel did a great lap. It is very positive for the team as well. The new engine seems to work pretty well, good power, good drivability, and around this track that is very important. I would have been very happy if I qualified top four."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.