Verstappen felt Monaco start failure coming: ‘The formation lap already felt a bit off’

Max Verstappen says he could feel an issue with his power unit before the start of the Monaco Grand Prix, as he failed to get off the line and retired from the front row.

Lining up alongside Kimi Antonelli, the start was seen as Verstappen’s best chance to take the lead and secure his first victory of the season in Monaco. However, the Red Bull barely moved when the lights went out, and he was only able to limp back to the pits to retire at the end of the opening lap.

“The formation lap already felt a bit off, but then on the pre-start, it was completely… normally you find your rpm target, but it was not going at all,” Verstappen said. “It was just shooting up and down a lot, a bit weird.

“Then as soon as I dropped the clutch that was it. The engine bogged down completely and after that, the noise that I heard from the engine once I got some power back out of Turn 1 was very bad, so I immediately just lifted off and brought it home.”

With the entire field managing to avoid Verstappen off the line, the Dutchman added: “I was steering left with the friction of the wheels at that speed. I was just praying that everyone would go right, but everyone luckily reacted very well.”

Despite the disappointment, Verstappen says the pace from the earlier part of the weekend was encouraging and that the wider competitive picture made it an easier blow to take.

“We had a really good weekend up until the race, of course everyone is very disappointed and not to be on the podium," he said. “If I would be leading the championship, then of course it's a very, very painful one. Like this, less painful, but it's still really annoying and disappointing for everyone. Of course, we know everyone wants to finish every single race, but like this, I just hope that we understand quickly what it is and that we can fix it also for the future.”