Max Verstappen’s father has criticised Red Bull for failing to deliver the championship leader the race win in Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix.
Sergio Perez swooped to victory around the principality after the Red Bull driver benefited from an optimum tyre strategy on a drying track, combined with a series of errors from Ferrari.
The victory put the Mexican within touching distance of Verstappen in the standings as the Dutchman took only a few points off Charles Leclerc in their title fight, as he came home third.
But the handling of the strategy, plus the performance of the car, left Jos Verstappen with strong words for the Formula One team.
“As a father, I was disappointed with the race,” he said. “Max’s third place was very disappointing. We all saw that it was a difficult weekend for him. It starts with the car, which simply doesn’t have the characteristics for his driving style yet. Max has far too little grip at the front axle. And especially in Monaco, with all those short corners, you need a car that turns very quickly. That was just hard.
“Red Bull achieved a good result, but at the same time exerted little influence to help Max to the front. That he finished third, he owes to Ferrari’s mistake at that second stop of Charles.
“The championship leader, Max, was not helped in that sense by the chosen strategy. It turned completely to Checo’s favour. That was disappointing to me, and I would have liked it to be different for the championship leader.
“Perez actually won the race because of the earlier pit stop. The team can perhaps explain that as a gamble, but they had already seen, with for example [Pierre] Gasly, that the intermediates were the best option at that time. I would have liked them to go for Max, but of course I am not entirely objective.
“I think 10 points from Max have been thrown away here. Especially with the two retirements we’ve had, we need every point. Don’t forget that Ferrari currently has a better car, especially in qualifying.”
