Max Verstappen has a brilliant idea to make next year’s Monaco GP actually interesting

A race without overtaking

The Monaco Grand Prix is known for its glamour, prestige and … a lack of spectacle on the track. The latter became painfully clear again last Sunday for world champion Max Verstappen. The Dutchman finished in fourth place, but his biggest frustration turned out to be not his ranking, but the inability to really race in Monaco.

“You just can’t overtake here,” sighed Verstappen afterwards. “Doesn’t matter if you make one, 10 or 100 pit stops, you’re still stuck.” With those words, he questioned Formula 1’s experiment to make the format more exciting with mandatory double pit stops.

Mario Kart

In a cynical mood, Verstappen compared the race to a famous Ninendo game. “We were almost doing Mario Kart,” he joked to Sky Sports’ camera. “Then maybe we need to put some parts on the car so we can throw bananas and make the asphalt as slippery as possible.”

No pace, no chances

Moreover, Verstappen acknowledged that his Red Bull bolide was not the right car for the narrow streets of Monte Carlo. The team struggled with the bumps and kerbstones of the street circuit. “We didn’t have the pace to attack the guys in front of us anyway. Every time I tried to hang on, my tires went down.”

The victory went to McLaren driver Lando Norris, who drove from pole position unchallenged to his first win in Monaco. With that, he rejoins the championship, where teammate Oscar Piastri currently leads. Verstappen is in third place in the standings and now follows on 25 points.

In the video below, Max explains it again:

Header image: Red Bull Content Pool