Max Verstappen felt he did everything he could to get ahead of Valtteri Bottas during the Monaco Grand Prix, but was ultimately unsuccessful, and coupled with Daniel Ricciardo jumping both drivers during the pit stop cycle, he was forced to settle for fifth.
The Red Bull Racing driver finally saw the chequered flag in the Principality after crashing out of his two previous attempts, but even with fresher rubber at the end of the race after gambling on a second pit stop behind the safety car, the Dutchman was still unable to get the jump on Bottas.
Verstappen admitted it was disappointing not to be able to finish on the podium, believing that in free air he could have shown more speed, and with the benefit of hindsight, he could have made a later pit stop than the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team driver to get ahead of the Finn.
“It is very disappointing after such a clean weekend where everything has gone really well to then feel I lost out on a podium, but I guess that is racing,” said Verstappen. “I tried everything I could to get close to Bottas, you can say we stopped too early or should have gone longer but that is always easy to think after the race.
“Even after the safety car, I was on fresh, softer rubber but with the wide cars and dirty air you can’t make a move and I had no real chance of overtaking here. I think I did 77 laps in traffic today, that isn’t much fun and I couldn’t push but at least we finished the race which is the biggest positive from the day.”
