The Monaco Grand Prix is one famous for a lack of overtaking, in 2019 there were only two overtakes both by Charles Leclerc who starts on pole position in the race. With Lewis Hamilton having a lack of grip in his Mercedes starting seventh on the grid, the Dutchman will be hoping to capitalise on this and bring back considerably more points than his championship rival.
Max Verstappen enjoys Qualifying at the Monaco Grand Prix, on his first and only run in Qualifying-3, the tyres weren’t quite in the right window so Verstappen was counting on the last run to be his fastest lap. Due to a red flag he starts the race wondering whether he could have been on pole position in a car that felt very comfortable.
“Qualifying around here is a lot of fun. I did a decent first lap in Q3 but the tyres weren’t quite in the window and I knew it was going to come down to the last run. My last lap felt really good as I was going into the tunnel, but because of the red flag I couldn’t finish it which was frustrating as I felt so comfortable in the car and I knew pole position was on.”
Everyone at Milton Keynes and at the track has done a fantastic job in getting the car just right especially after a tricky first two practice sessions which shows the resilience of a team which could be championship-defining factors. After recovering well from practice, having a first front-row start at the Monaco Grand Prix should mean a good result for Verstappen which will be crucial to get a good result.
“Obviously Charles is driving very well so I knew it would be tight but everyone back at the factory and here at the track has done an amazing job to get the car to where it is now, especially after we struggled so much on Thursday. I think it’s been a very good weekend so far, we recovered well from practice and we’re starting on the front row tomorrow, which is the most important thing in Monaco, so it’s not too bad. I can be quite happy with second after that red flag and now we just need to finish off the job tomorrow!”
Sergio Pérez Left Disappointed Feeling “We Seemed To Go Backwards
It hasn’t exactly been the dream start to life at Red Bull Racing for Sergio Pérez who struggled in Qualifying-3 only managing to put his car ahead of the Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN of Antonio Giovinazzi. With the temperatures dropping tweaks were made to the car and this just made the car worse for the Mexican.
“I was making good progress throughout qualifying and then in Q3, the session I thought was going to be the smoothest, turned into the worst one. Things got really messy and it just didn’t come together. We seemed to go backwards and we didn’t make the progress we hoped or expected to. I was struggling a lot with the dropping temperatures so we changed our approach going into the final session and it just made it worse.”
A culmination of issues with tyre temperatures and traffic in the final sector meant that there we definitely more time to be gained for Pérez, even though overtaking is virtually impossible around Monaco the Mexican will be trying to do his best to make up for lost ground in the race.
“Then on my final Q3 run I got traffic in the last sector so I lost the lap. We know how important qualifying is here in Monaco but we’ll try and do the best possible job we can to recover tomorrow.”
