Jos Verstappen unhappy Max "was not helped" in Monaco victory bid

Max Verstappen’s father Jos has voiced his displeasure at Red Bull for not helping the championship leader move forward in the Monaco Grand Prix.

Sergio Perez took victory after starting third on the grid, taking advantage of Ferrari strategy errors to jump both Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. From fourth, Verstappen also got ahead of Leclerc to finish on the podium, but Jos Verstappen believes more should have been done by Red Bull to prioritize the defending champion.

“Red Bull achieved a good result, but at the same time exerted little influence to help Max to the front,” Verstappen wrote on his son’s official website. “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 favor. That was disappointing to me, and I would have liked it to be different for the championship leader.

More Formula 1

Brown says Horner F1 return would be a positive, more A-B teams not so much

What the revised Formula 1 regulations are predicted to achieve in Miami

Piastri says Verstappen departure would be ‘not a great look’ but Norris thinks he’ll stay

“Perez actually won the race because of the earlier pit stop. The team can perhaps explain that as a gamble, but they had already seen, with for example Gasly, that the intermediates were the best option at that time.

“I would have liked them to go for Max, but of course I am not entirely objective. I think ten points from Max have been thrown away here. Especially with the two retirements we've had, we need every point. Don't forget that Ferrari currently has a better car, especially in qualifying.

“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 Perez. Then everything would have been different.

“Apart from all this, I am happy for Checo. Winning in Monaco is of course something special and I hope he enjoys it.”

Verstappen Sr’s comments come a week after Red Bull faced questions over its apparent prioritizing of Max over Perez at the Spanish Grand Prix, when the Mexican was twice told to move over for Verstappen and once told not to overtake him.