“We don’t have to overtake in the race,” Max Verstappen not worried about the DRS issue in Monaco


“We don’t have to overtake in the race,” Max Verstappen not worried about the DRS issue in Monaco

Max Verstappen

Max Verstappen came down to see the checkered flag first as he won the Spanish Grand Prix last week, but scoring that win wasn’t so easy as he had a tough battle with George Russell after Verstappen’s spin on turn 4. 

ADVERTISEMENT

The Dutchman had a tough battle for quite some laps, where Russell wasn’t letting Max through, and even though Max was right behind George’s tale, he wasn’t able to pass the Brit as he had a very faulty DRS. 

He was trying to make the DRS work as many times as he could but it just wasn’t opening; he faced the same issue during qualifying, one of the reasons he lost pole from Charles Leclerc. During some parts of the race, Verstappen was seen pressing the DRS button as  many as 50 times in order to make it work.

Watch: What Caused Max Verstappen’s DRS Issues?

ADVERTISEMENT

Christian Horner had later asked him to press the DRS button only once after hitting the kerb to make it work, and it had finally worked. A good pit strategy from the team saw him finish first, and behind him was his teammate, Sergio Perez. 

However, going into Monaco this week, Verstappen is not worried about the entire DRS issue or the reliability of the car this week.

Also read: Christian Horner reveals Max Verstappen’s frustration in FP2: “He’s not as happy with the car like in the last session”

Verstappen states that DRS “would not be required” in Monaco

Max Verstappen during practice in Monaco 2022
Max Verstappen during practice in Monaco 2022

Monaco is one of the oldest circuits in Formula 1 which has technically not been changed since its first race in 1929, and was designed for smaller cars that raced back in the day. Even though the cars are massive now compared to how they were in the 80s and 90s, F1 still doesn’t leave Monaco behind when it comes to having prestigious races. 

ADVERTISEMENT

Monaco has only 1 DRS zone at the first straight of the race, which is not very long as someone would expect it to be. The track is such that most cars cannot even hit the maximum gear, the cars top at the 7th gear mostly on the trak, hence, DRS might not be  such a crucial element in the race. 

When Verstappen was asked about the same, he said, “Of course I hope it is fixed. I think so, but difficult to say at the moment. In general, DRS obviously doesn’t give you a whole lot here. But hopefully in the race we don’t have to overtake,” quoted GPBlog

There is not much of an opportunity for overtaking in the race, as we saw in the 2021 season where we witnessed only 1 overtake in the entire race. Although it would be interesting to see how the 2022 cars perform on the historical track.

Also read: “It’s important to make sure I have full support” : Sergio Perez wants to fight for championship title

ADVERTISEMENT

Also read: “The bouncing is crazy man,” Lewis Hamilton haunted again by porpoising issues at Monaco GP