Verstappen content with 'strong' showing in Monaco

Max Verstappen says he believes Red Bull displayed strong “pace and performance” at the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday, as he finished the second-fastest of all the drivers only to eventually drop down to fourth due to being issued with a five-second penalty.

The Dutchman started the race third on the grid, and the defining moment of his afternoon came when a rapid Red Bull pitstop allowed him to race away from the engineers - only to collide into the side of Valtteri Bottas; Mercedes which was coming through the lane.

He subsequently received a penalty which would come into play if he pitted again. He didn’t, which meant it was added on to his final time.

Verstappen additionally punished for Bottas pit-lane incidentRead more

In terms of race pace, he was in the mix for the win up against Lewis Hamilton, but couldn’t find the space required to claim P1.

Speaking after the GP, he seemed content about his outing on the day, even if the penalty defined it, as Red Bull displayed plenty of power.

“Of course, it’s a shame to have a penalty, but I gave it all today to try and get by Lewis. I knew, of course, that he was on softer tyres,” Verstappen said.

“He was taking it very easy once we had the stop, so I started to push him, and he had to then increase his pace.

“So, I could really start to attack him. And, all of the time in the tunnel, the problem is, is that you can’t get close enough out of the corner to have a good go at it (overtaking).

“So, I just tried to put the pressure on. The whole race, following that closely in the dirty air in the high-speed corners is not easy around here.

“I had a fun race. Obviously, I would have liked to be on the podium, but if we look at the pace and the performance - we were strong.”

Due to the penalty, Verstappen missed out on a podium position and eventually finished fourth, while points were later added to his super licence.

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