Max Verstappen expects Lewis Hamilton’s penalty to F1 Monaco GP

Max Verstappen thinks that Lewis Hamilton will receive a grid penalty for having hindered it in the qualifications for the MONACO Grand Prix of Formula 1.

In Q1, Verstappen bombed the hill towards Massenet, when he was blocked by Hamilton in his Ferrari and had to get out of his knees through one of the many blind corners of the circuit.

Hamilton was informed by his racing engineer that Verstappen was approaching, but was then wrongly informed that the Red Bull driver was slowing down, which prompted Hamilton to move again to the middle of the track.

The drivers and their team representatives were summoned by the FIA ​​race stewards immediately after the qualifications, Verstappen expecting the seven times world champion to face a drop in grid. While Hamilton qualified in front of Verstappen in fifth, it would raise the Dutch in the order of departure.

“Well, if you look at the story of things, yes,” replied Verstappen, when he was asked if he expected a penalty for his rival. “It is no longer the fault of a team, but unfortunately by qualifying of course, they are normally quite strict on these things.”

Verstappen said he spoke to Hamilton and stressed that the 40-year-old was not responsible for their quasi-accident.

“You see the car you block and when you are there at high speed, it’s not nice, let’s say,” he said. “But I saw immediately, the team told him that I was driving slowly, when I was clearly driving quickly, so it’s not Lewis’ fault.

“I quickly chatted with Lewis on this subject. This is the team’s error.”

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Photo of: Red Bull Content Pool

Red Bull “not in the fight” on the bumps and the borders of Monaco

Verstappen suffered a difficult qualification session according to his notes, qualifying seven tenths of the poleter Lando Norris in McLaren.

While the team seems to have resolved some of the problems of undressing the Red Bull RB21 during Friday training, the quadruple world champion reduced a general lack of adhesion on the street circuit Cahoteux, which has always been a Red Bull weakness.

“Mainly the intermediate sector, all the corners of the low-speed mechanical handle, we simply do not have it,” he said. “I couldn’t find more time on the tour compared to the practice, really. And every time I had to set up a sidewalk or drop a wheel in a Caimé corner, it simply was not seized and it was our problem.

“As soon as we went out in qualification and I saw the progress of time on the turn, I knew that we were not in this fight.

“Our car is not very good at low speed anyway. By qualifying, it has always been very close between a lot of cars, and if you lack a little feeling and balance in these corners at low speed, it does not happen.”

Photos of Monaco GP – Practice and qualification