Max Verstappen admits his mistake in qualifying and will start from the pits

Everything had gone ideally for Max Verstappen’s first weekend with Red Bull, which ended in triumph. Two weeks later, the situation is quite different as the Dutchman was forced to admit his mistake that saw him end up in the protective barrier: « Obviously, that’s not where you want to end up tomorrow. I turned a bit too early, hit the inside wall, broke the suspension, and couldn’t turn anymore. »

This mistake occurred while the 18-year-old driver was in the middle of his first attack lap and was feeling very confident. He thinks he might have misjudged the grip his car was providing him: « I felt good, in my first attack lap, I had never felt so confident and it was also better in terms of the car’s balance since my second sector was two to three tenths faster than what I had done so far. Everything was falling into place but I might have underestimated the grip I had and turned a bit too early. »

Max Verstappen is therefore preparing for an eventful race as he intends to make up for his initial handicap. Nevertheless, it has been decided by his team that he will start from the pit lane so that the team can make all the repairs and changes they deem necessary. On a track where overtaking is almost impossible, he still hopes to climb the hierarchy: « It’s going to be very hard but I’m not going to give up. The car is great, we just need to find a way to pass the cars in front of us. It will depend a lot on strategy, on what the others do, and on the weather. Let’s hope we can have a bit of luck tomorrow. »

But we can remember that the driver’s enthusiasm ended badly last year when his attempt to overtake Romain Grosjean ended in the Sainte Dévote wall…