Verstappen explains FP2 issues at Red Bull

Max Verstappen says encountering debris damaged his Red Bull and led to his absence from much of free practice two at the Monaco Grand Prix. It has been reported that the issue led to a water leak, which kept the Dutchman grounded for much of the afternoon session.

Verstappen has split the Mercedes pair of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas in FP1, but his momentum was checked by a lengthy stint in the garage after that.

Having missed out on a potential win in last year's race due to a Saturday crash, Verstappen believes another fight at the front may prove difficult.

"Some debris flew in the airbox and damaged the radiator and we had to replace it," Verstappen told Sky Sports of his FP2 issues.

"But before that I think it was alright, just Mercedes is a bit too quick.

"We should definitely fill out the gap between second and third."

Despite missing out on vital track time in FP2, and then struggling in traffic when he did get onto the circuit, Verstappen remains confident.

"It's OK, I still did my laps and it should be alright.

"The balance is OK. Of course you try different things in practice, some work and some don't so it's alright."

Verstappen's team-mate Pierre Gasly finished well adrift of the Dutchman in FP1 and was then only marginally ahead of the Toro Rosso of Alexander Albon in FP2, albeit in fourth place.

The Frenchman said to Sky: "FP1 was a bit difficult but after we made some changes for FP2 and I felt a lot better in the car, so this was positive.

"We can see that Ferrari – we're in the fight with them. Mercedes is quite a long way ahead of us but we'll have to work and see what we can extract on Saturday.

"Overall it was a positive day, just a shame we could not get more running with Max, but we still have more performance to get out of the package we have on Saturday."

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