Jos Verstappen believes Red Bull’s strategy in Monaco didn’t help Max Verstappen’s cause

Jos Verstappen believes Red Bull’s strategy in Monaco didn’t help Max Verstappen’s cause

Jos Verstappen was left disappointed with Red Bull's strategy for his son, Max Verstappen.

Max Verstappen finished 3rd in this edition of the Monaco Grand Prix, bringing his streak of wins to an end. This also means that Monaco was the first time that Max Verstappen did not win a race that he finished this season. Verstappen was originally running at 4th, behind the Ferraris and his teammate, but a strategical masterclass and a mistake from Ferrari meant he eclipsed Leclerc to finish on the podium.

Sergio Perez had looked the superior Red Bull driver for the whole weekend, and he had also out-qualified Verstappen the previous day, even if Verstappen may have surpassed him if there wasn’t a red flag due to the former’s crash. In fact, Verstappen was the faster driver during the dry period of the race, and Perez suffered from worse tire degradation while leading.

Verstappen’s father, Jos was not very pleased with Red Bull’s strategy, as he felt that they had not done enough for the race of the championship leader. He felt that ten points were thrown away for Verstappen, but admitted that he was not entirely objective (obviously being Max Verstappen’s father).

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Jos Verstappen: “[Max] had a difficult weekend.”

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen

Writing on Max Verstappen’s official website, the former Benetton and Minardi driver was disappointed with his son’s third-place finish and felt that the car does not compliment the characteristics of his driving style very well, saying that “Max has far too little grip on the front axle.“

He acknowledged the importance of the result but felt that Red Bull did not do enough for Verstappen during the race, and felt that their strategy heavily favored Sergio Perez. As a result, he was disappointed with the outcome of the race.

“Red Bull achieved a good result, but at the same time exerted little influence to help Max to the front. That he finished third, he owes to Ferrari’s mistake at that second stop of Charles Leclerc. The championship leader, Max, was not helped in that sense by the chosen strategy. It turned completely to Checo’s favour.“

He attributed Perez’s race victory to his earlier pitstop, and Jos feels that the team should have gone instead with the championship leader, Max Verstappen. He stressed that due to Ferrari’s faster pace and Verstappen’s retirements, they could use every point they can get (at the top)

Verstappen senior also feels that his son’s race was compromised by Perez’s qualifying crash, as Max was faster on his final run in Qualifying 3.

“Max also had bad luck in qualifying, because in his last run he was significantly faster and on his way to second place, until the crash of Pérez. Then everything would have been different.”

Nevertheless, he congratulated Perez on his victory: “Apart from all this, I am happy for Checo. Winning in Monaco is of course something special and I hope he enjoys it.”

Max Verstappen is still leading the championship with 125 points, nine ahead of second-placed Charles Leclerc. His teammate, Sergio Perez is third, 6 points behind Leclerc.

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