Monaco GP: ‘It’s not going to be enjoyable’, Verstappen predicts tough race for Red Bull

Monaco, May 26 (IANS) Red Bull driver Max Verstappen has struggled with his car ever since the first practice session in Monaco as he finished sixth on the grid following the qualifying session.

Following the end of the qualifying session on Saturday, Verstappen revealed how much he struggled with the car and how the race on Sunday would “not going to be enjoyable.”

“To be honest, I was positively surprised all the way until Q3 that we were actually looking like we were in the mix – it was a big surprise to me. But it’s just like driving on a knife’s edge. I can’t drive on the kerbs, to be honest. That’s why we are losing so much time in Sector 2… I have to drive around everything while everyone else is just ploughing over it,” said the Dutchman to reporters after the qualifying session.

Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc shone brightly at his home race qualifying as he grabbed pole position followed by McLaren’s Oscar Piastri at P2, teammate Carlos Sainz at P3 and Lando Norris at P4.

“It’s costing a lot of lap time, the car is like a go-kart over the kerbs and the bumps, so it’s just incredibly difficult. If you turn in one centimeter too late you might bounce half a meter more to the left or the right, and that makes it just very unpredictable.

“We were very good in the medium to high-speed, where you don’t have the bumps so much, so that’s where I felt really comfortable and it was actually a lot of fun to drive, but we lost too much in all the low-speed,” added the three-time World Champion.

Verstappen was not the only Red Bull driver who struggled on the day as teammate Sergio Perez was eliminated in Q1 making it evident to the struggles the team is facing when it comes to pace on the track.

“It’s not going to be enjoyable, every lap that I did so far, in the low-speed it’s a challenge to be consistent. Of course, in the race, you don’t push it to the limit, everyone is saving [the car] and just making sure you have the tyres to go with it. We’ll all calm down a little bit but we don’t have the fastest car anyway, so all the cars that are ahead of us are faster. We’ll just try to follow. It’s Monaco, things can happen, but I also don’t expect miracles,” said Verstappen, who won last year’s race in Monaco.

–IANS

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