Verstappen: Losing podium ‘very hard’

2017 Monaco Grand Prix

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Max Verstappen has expressed his disappointment but remained tight-lipped after finishing fifth in the Monaco Grand Prix.

Verstappen was pressuring Valtteri Bottas for third in the early stages and attempted to undercut the Mercedes driver with his one stop, but both drivers lost out to Daniel Ricciardo after the Red Bull driver stayed out longer.

“I don’t know what to say,” says Verstappen. “It’s very hard after such a clean weekend to lose out on a podium, but we obviously can’t change it now. It’s not great of course, what we did. But I guess that’s racing… should I say it like that?”

Asked if missing out on a podium around the Monte Carlo streets came down to strategy, Verstappen admitted that he felt it had.

“Yeah, definitely for me,” says Verstappen. “It’s always very hard here at Monaco. Today we were unlucky.”

2017 Monaco Grand Prix

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    Will Wood
    Will has been a RaceFans contributor since 2012 during which time he has covered F1 test sessions, launch events and interviewed drivers. He mainly...

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    63 comments on “Verstappen: Losing podium ‘very hard’”

    1. Win some, lose some; remember Spain16.

      He had a very solid weekend though, and did see the chequered flag ;)

      1. Exactly, and at the end of the day Ricciardo was the one with pace in hand and he used it. If he didn’t have it, he wouldn’t have been able to pass them during the stops. Same goes for Vettel – if he didn’t have the extra pace, he wouldn’t have passed Kimi.

        1. @nick101
          But unlike Kimi, we don’t know if Verstappen had the pace Ricciardo showed because he never got the clean air to proof it. Judging from Verstappen pulling away from Ricciardo at the beginning there’s a very good chance he did have that pace in hand.

          1. We must have watched a different race… max did not pull away.

            1. He did.

        2. Who says Max would not have had the pace…Max never got the chance to drive in clean air. What I don’t like about RIC at the moment is that he’s making it seem its the teams fault he’s not been getting qualifying and race results. Max is clearly the faster driver with 0,5s faster in qualifying both in Barcelona and Monaco. Unfortunately strategy calls and DNFs are not reflecting this in the championship.

          1. Mike, I wouldn’t say that DNFs have played any part in the situation given that Ricciardo and Verstappen are equal on that front (two each).

            Equally, I wouldn’t say that differences in strategy between Ricciardo and Verstappen have been massive differentiators between the two drivers either. Out of the first six races, only two of those races have seen both drivers finish the race, and in reality in all of the other races one or other of the drivers either retired so early on that it had no impact on strategy or, in the case of Ricciardo in Australia, were out of contention already.

          2. I am not sure if Max had the pace or not. He certainly had more pace than what he could show.
            However, people are missing the prime point here. Max stuffed up the pitstop phase. It’s something Horner alluded to after the race. He made 3 mistakes.
            – Firstly, he didn’t close up enough on Bottas before his stop. He was still 1.2 seconds adrift.
            – Secondly, he missed his marks and Horner said that it cost about 0.7seconds.
            – Lastly, and most importantly, he stuffed up his out lap. Verstappen’s outlap after pitting for new tyres was 1:35.170. Bottas’s outlap was 1:34.473, or 7 tenths of a second faster in a car that was slower. The real kicker here is Ricciardo’s outlap which was a 1:33.077. Ricciardo’s outlap was a full 2.1 seconds faster than Max’s.

            Had Max done an outlap like Ricciardo, he would have been when clear of Bottas and running in clean air. Daniel may never have gotten past him then. Max can complain all he likes, but he stuffed up here and ruined his chance.

            1. Thanks Mick. That’s a really good analysis – not relying on opinion/prejudice.

            2. he is the one
              29th May 2017, 13:55

              Max never could release his true pace because he was stuck behind Botas and was stuck again behind Botas after his pitchstop. The reason why his outlap was slower then Ric was because of Botas. I have no single doubt that if Max had pit later he finished higher then Ric.

            3. @mickharrold

              I think your analysis is not completely correct imho

              the pit lap of Max was done behind BOT so not in clean air. The pit laps of both RIC and BOT were done in free air. Plus you need to add the slower time of the pitstop in this lap so the 2,1 that RIC was faster was 1,1 because of the faster pit stop.

              So the only “error” is the supposed wrongly placing of the car during the pit stop. I must say it can’t see this when replaying it.

              RIC won 1,1 with a quicker pit stop and 1 second in that lap because he ran in free air. The lap they came out of the pits, the only one for max in clean air, he was 1,5 sec quicker than RIC’s similar lap.

              So if you want to pinpoint where it went wrong it was mainly in the fact that

              1) Max didn’t expect the pitstop
              2) the front wheel took too long
              3) the strategy to undercut BOT out him behind SAI anyway

              I’m sure the Red Bull team didn’t do this on purpose but I can understand why Max was disappointed with the team strategy

            4. Just to add

              The pit lap difference between Max and BOT was 0,7 but the actual pitstop was 1,0 slower. So here is the theory about a slow outlap not even true.

              According to http://en.mclarenf-1.com/index.php?page=chart&gp=982&graf=3&dr1=Max%20Verstappen&dr2=Valtteri%20Bottas

            5. @anunaki Hi Patrick, I think you are mistaken. Max’s outlap can’t have been slowed by Bottas as at the time, Bottas hadn’t pitted yet! In fact, Bottas was 20 odd seconds in front at the time! That is why they call it an undercut. Only after his outlap was Bottas directly in front of him again but that is the lap after his outlap. Max wasn’t hampered by Sainz either. He came out in clean air for that lap and was able to push as hard as he could. But he obviously stuffed up somewhere pushing too hard on cold tyres.

              As for the wheel taking too long, Horner covered that one off with stating that Max missed his marks. You can also watch the stop on TV if you like to see am not being disingenuous. Also, Horner said it cost 0.4 seconds (I said 0.7 earlier sorry). Max lost it all on his outlap. Actually, that isn’t completely true. He lost a fair chunk on his inlap too.

              Lastly, you say that Max didn’t expect the pitstop. Well all I can say to that is that all drivers know within a few laps when the pitstop will come. Ever hear them say “target +1” on the radio? As proof, I submit that Daniel was 2.8 seconds back at lap 26 (or so) But within 3 laps he was 1.5 second behind Max. Daniel was saving his tyres in expectation of the pitstop and then put the burners on when it got close. If Max didn’t expect the pitstop (which I don’t accept), then he is stupid. P.S. I am not calling Max Stupid. He is a very good driver. I am just saying that your theory is wishful thinking.

              As for your web site data proving me wrong. Take a look again. Max’s outlap was lap 32 and he did a 1:35.170. Bottas’s outlap was on lap 33 and it was a 1:34.473. Ricciardo’s outlap was on lap 38 and it was a 1:33.077. Your data 100% proves my point. Have a look again if you like but I am sure you will find that I am correct in my original assessment.

              Sky TV submit that Raikonnen was dudded of the race win by Ferrari. But that is tin foil hat stuff and negates the simple fact that Vettel was faster and made hay while the sun was shining. Same goes for Verstappen here. While the sun was shining, he forgot to cut the hay.

            6. @mickharrold

              Great reply

              I’m a little confused. I’m assuming the slow lap is the inlap because start finish line is at the end of the pit lane. That’s why I feel the slow lap was / wasn’t in free air between the different players.

              Are you sure the outlap is the slow lap?

            7. @anunaki TBH, Both the inlap and the outlap are slower than a normal lap as you are in the pit lane at pit lane speed limits. TBH, I think it depends on where your grid box is compared to the start line. i.e. Sauber might do their pit stop before the start line while Merc and Red Bull are after the start line, so I am sure there are some differences there.
              In any case, I am assuming that both Merc and RB are both beyond the start line, so times are comparable. In any case, you can be 100% sure that Verstappen and Ricciardo are compared on a level playing field as they both pit in the same box, so they can be no confusion.

            8. Max went green and purple in his outlap…

            9. @Mick Harrold
              You are trying so hard to make Verstappen look like he lost his won race… why?
              Verstappen was on top all weekend, just like in Spain, the difference in quali was rather big.

              Your pit stip theory is a off:
              Ric did the fastest stop being 0.6 sec faster than Verstappen, Verstappen though was still 0.4 sec faster than Bottas (pit in / pit out). Eventhough Ver pitstop was not perfectly executed, he was standing still 1 sec. longer than Ric and Bot he made up 0.6 sec on pace.

              To make the undercut Verstappen needed 1.3 sec. on Bottas, very little chance this would succeed.

              Verstappen did 1.16 laps well before Ricciardo did and a lot more frequent as well, the gap was opened to 3.7 seconds, but clearly free air was the key to pull a gap for RBR. RBR wasn’t able to get Ver in free air regardless which strategy, to pull in Ver made Bot follow and gave Ric free air.

              It was a RBR masterpiece to collect maximum points for the team.

              The downside of the weekend was the slower driver got the podium, but maybe more disturbing Ricciardo wasn’t a good sportsman during the weekend, he flipped the middlefinger twice and blamed the team openly for his qualifying gamble.

              Verstappen stayed in for 45 minutes before the post-race interviews…. walked in with helmet on followed by Horner, Helmut and his manager Vermeulen. That must have been one hell of a discussion… probably like Australia 2016. Verstappen didn’t say one bad thing about the team while he had all the reasons to.

          3. @mickharrold

            Well this is the key of this entire discussion.

            Take a look at this http://atlasf1.autosport.com/2000/mon/preview/monlap.jpg

            The start/finish line is at the end of the pit lane. This means that the slow lap is the inlap. And in the inlap you’re still behind your opponent in the undercut situation. The outlap of max was actually way quicker than RIC’s. So on colder tyres he was quicker. And this was his only lap in free air.

            So no level playing field here

            1. If Max had a bad outlap, he would not have gone green and purple in sector 3

            2. Simon le Bon
              31st May 2017, 15:21

              Here are the interactive time charts: https://www.racefans.net/2017/05/28/2017-monaco-grand-prix-interactive-lap-times-and-fastest-laps/
              VER: Inlap (lap 32) 95.170s, Outlap 78.341s
              BOT: Inlap (lap 33) 94.473s, Outlap 79.431s
              The inlap is where Max lost his position due to the slow pitstop. When Bottas entered the track again, he was only a few metres ahead of Verstappen. Each 0.1s equals about 3m @ 100kmh. He could have undercut Bottas if his pitstop went well, unfortunately it didn’t.

              Verstappen has shown how kissing the rail in Monaco should be done: http://wwos.nine.com.au/2017/05/26/10/49/monaco-gp-shows-fine-line-between-success-and-failure

      2. 2015: Loads of engine failures. And more.
        2016: Ric had a bad stop in Monaco, Max had this in Australia which cost him 5 places. Russia engine failure before P6 in a Toro Rosso which is quite something for that track. Structural clutch issues; from Spa (with all bad stuff as a chain reaction) – Monza – to Singapore. Multiple qualification compromises with Baku in particular. Germany; strategy.
        Malaysia; Vettel blocks Max and opens the gates for Ricciardo, later in the race pitted by Red Bull after Lewis engine fails while he just pitted before that and had plenty of time to comfortably overtake Ric.
        2017: China engine failure in quali. Traffic ruining out lap in Bahrein. Bahrein brake failure while he had the pace for a podium. Sochi; qualification hampered with a broken car in the laps that matters, had faster sector times in every sector. Bottas slamming a racing incident in Spain.

        And now Monaco; strategy. Ric gets free air and gets the call to push while Max is pitted and stuck behind Sainz.

        Win some lose some? Ric in Spain? Max is lucky so far hes been in F1 huh /s

        1. Winger or Whinger?

          You’re looking at it entirely with one perspective. I can’t entirely be bothered going through a long list of which drivers have benefitted and lost out from race to race, but to say that somehow Verstappen was hard done by because Vettel blocked him and Ricciardo took advantage in Malaysia is ridiculous. It’s called racing, that’s what happens. A number of times in the last 12 months Max has managed to get ahead of Ricciardo after being out-qualified is because he’s picked more advantageous lines through T1 (or has he been fortunate that his lines were the ones other drivers weren’t watching?) after Ricciardo has been held up by the car ahead. Does that mean that Ricciardo was unlucky all those times? No.

          Both drivers have had their fair share of poor luck. Verstappen has been solid so far this year, but don’t overstate it. It’s still very tight between the Red Bull drivers and could certainly go either way.

          1. Looks like a one side perspective, but i know Ricciardo also has a list i didn’t mention. I keep hearing Spain over and over again. Both drivers have had their fair share of poor luck. But definitely Max was less lucky. Maybe you should watch the Malaysia start again, its true sometimes Ric is stuck somewhere at starts too bu nothing comes close how much effect it had on the gap between Max and Ric in Malaysia.

            1. Guybrush Threepwood
              29th May 2017, 13:29

              The only reason Max was anywhere near Ricciardo in Malaysia was because they pitted him and not Ricciardo under the VSC. They then equalized things by pitting both under the second VSC and Max couldn’t get near him.

            2. At Malaysia Ver was just faster…. none of the other

              Things weren’t equalized by a pitstop, Ver where next to ech other in the race, but only Ric needed to make pitstop… he would have been 23 sec behind if it wasn’t for VSC, it would have been P2 for Ver and P4 for Ric.

              Btw, after the last pitcall Ver came withing DRS range in a couple of laps again…. that is considered ‘near’

      3. @f1-liners I agree, had his pit stop gone to plan he would’ve jumped Bottas got on free air and avoid the Ricciardo overcut. A perfect tactic that executed to perfection would have guaranteed both RB’s would leapfrog Bottas. Had they pitted Ric first it wouldn’t have worked, a bit like Ferrari’s strategy, they had to pit the first car first.

        1. Even if he would have got past Bottas he still would be behind Sainz, the pit stop was badly timed. Had they waited a couple of laps he would have cleared Sainz. That he was still behind Bottas was just bad luck, thats always a risk you take when trying the undercut. But to stop on the lap he did would have always put him behind Sainz.

    2. GtisBetter (@)
      28th May 2017, 18:40

      Ricciardo unhappy with team on saturday, Verstappen today and not close to having a race winning car. I wonder how long they can hold on to these drivers. I know they both have a contract for next year, but I have a feeling one of them is leaving at the end of this season.

      1. nelson piquet
        28th May 2017, 18:59

        i don’t see these guys leaving to mercedes or ferrari

        1. Would be amazing (although unlikerly) to see Max or Daniel at Merc or ferrari It would light one hell of a fire under lewis or seb.

      2. Verstappen seems happy at Red Bull IMHO

        1. He may be happy at Red Bull, but he won’t forgive Monaco easily. This is the 2nd gift to Ricci (including Malaysia) It doesn’t matter that RBR did the right thing from a strategy point of view, securing a podium. I don’t believe the Verstappen camp wants to be a charity business.

          This will definitely generate noise. There will come a point that RBR needs to decide if Max is their future. If they think so, they’ll have to tend to him, just like what the other teams do with Vettel and Lewis.
          So, basically they’ll have to make him the 1st driver. If not, he may be swayed to move elsewhere and I’m sure both Ferrari and MB will be happy to have him. It’s one thing to stay at a non-winning team because you’re looked after well. It’s an entirely different thing if they keep handing out presents each time Ricci isn’t happy.
          I expect Marko to have a serious conversation with Horner this week.

      3. Red Bull has 3 good drivers. I’d add Sainz to the mix since he is the only one struggling with a car without a possibility of podium. Last year Sainz could have been 3rd and Ric 1st but a very bad strategy in RBR and STR shut them down. They were very polite at that time. VER has never been so polite with his team or teammate. RBR could let him go since they have another strong driver.

        1. I don’t think your analysis merits much consideration. They have 2 very good drivers and one ‘once-in-a-generation’ talent. They surely will do everything possible to keep him.

      4. RossoTorro (@)
        29th May 2017, 16:06

        None of the Red Bull drivers will go anywhere, maybe Kvyat if he can’t beat Sainz this year.

        As Marko and Horner said a number of times none of the drivers have release clauses apart from Sainz if a better team would be interested (Ferrari or Mercedes) and so far the interest shown is only inside the head of Sainz sr. (Marko said this literally).

    3. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
      28th May 2017, 18:52

      I don’t understand how Verstappen can say he lost a podium when he was 4th for part of the race, then 5th. It didn’t at any point look very likely that he’d be up there. Anyway, Horner said Verstappen made a mistake when he pitted which cost him some time apparently. He parked at an slightly awkward angle for the pit crew and Horner said he may have got out ahead of Bottas if it wasn’t for this. I don’t think this is true that he’s have got out ahead of Bottas though. I don’t blame Red bull for what they did. They have to pit one driver first. They pitted Verstappen first as he was ahead. Then they just happened to see that Ricciardo had a good chance to do some fats laps in clean air as Bottas pitted just after Verstappen. How could Red Bull have predicted this? They saw a chance that one of their drivers could possibly come out in front of Bottas so they had to take it. The stratagy was barely any different though to Ricciardo anyway. They just pitted a few laps apart.

      1. The logic is very simple:
        You’re consistently faster than your teammate during the weekend.
        You qualify in front of your teammate.
        You’re in front of your teammate during the race.
        You don’t make any mistakes that cost you a position. (Horner said something about the awkwardness of the pit area, nothing about Verstappen.)
        And yet, your teammate ends up on the podium.
        That’s losing a podium.

        1. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
          28th May 2017, 20:18

          I’ll quote what Horner said on Channel 4 when he was talking about Verstappen pitting. “We lost about 0.4 – 0.5 of a second because of the positioning of the car” Then also said “I think without that, we will have actually got the jump on Bottas” Who else but Verstappen is responsible for the position he parks the car in?? But yes, Verstappen otherwise did do better this weekend but I still don’t see how he lost a podium as he was never in a position fighting for it. Anyway about your other points, being fast in practice isn’t that important. Neither is Q1 or Q2 when you are in one of the top cars. Q2 especially as it is good if you can look after the tyres there. Ricciardo often does perform where it matters but he clearly didn’t this qualifying session. During the race though, I can’t really say Verstappen did look any stronger. Ricciardo was glued right behind him for most of the first half.

          1. I saw the overhead of this pit stop, and the car was parked on spot. The right front man was a bit slow it seemed, though…

          2. “Ricciardo was glued…” there was nearly 4 secs gap between Max and Ric which came down to 2 secs due to traffic

            1. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
              28th May 2017, 21:16

              Sorry, I must have missed when he pulled away. But he certainly was very close a lot of the time early on. I probably shouldn’t have made it sound like he was quite as close as he was by using the word glued though…

          3. You should watch the interview again because he puts it slightly different which changes the narrative quite a lot.
            (He is talking about the awkwardness for the guys with the wheels, standing in a slight angle.)

            About free practice and q1/q2:
            You’re right that it’s not important, but in general it shows who’s the faster driver.

            Glued? See Mike’s comment.

            1. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
              29th May 2017, 9:36

              Maybe. But he certainly did sound like he was putting a little blame on the way Verstappen parked. He does say “It’s very difficult here in Monaco, it was at a slight angle” So if he does mean just what you say, it is just as difficult for all pit crews on the grid too and.

              But I still don’t know why he would say “We lost about 0.4 – 0.5 of a second because of the positioning of the car” if it wasn’t partly related to how Verstappen parked. He didn’t actually say anything about the pit crew being at an angle.

              OK, We clearly have different view but I recorded the whole Channel 4 program and I’ve watched this part enough times and I still don’t think Horner is blaming the positioning of the pit crew. Anyway, if it wasn’t for the fact Horner said any of this, I wouldn’t have anything against Verstappen. His race was very strong.

          4. he is the one
            29th May 2017, 9:41

            Max was stuck behind Botas, never drove in clean air and it’s no use to drive very close because all the reasons we know. For me there is no any doubt that Max had pull off the same result as RIC and would be even closer to Kimi. I have read a lot of whining and complaining from DR fans about tactics and Max would be the favorite inside RB. Hopefully they now see how childish they are. I can tell you that Max upperhand in the fist part of the season is not reflected in the WDC standing and even RIC will ask himself how that is possible. Ric will have to perform better then he is doing because Max bad luck will not last form ever.

            1. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
              29th May 2017, 15:12

              I think their performance in the race was about equal really. And a lot of people on Planet F1 think Ricciardo was a driver of the day. Just so you know, I didn’t vote him. But he is incredibly close to being the most voted. Just 6 votes off Vettel. Ricciardo currently has 32. Then next comes Sainz at 18. And look how many Verstappen has. None. I have to admit I’m surprised by this. I did expect there to be quite a lot for both Red Bull drivers.

              http://forum.planet-f1.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=14278

    4. I always thought with the new formula that the undercut was the way to go… so I’d like to hear how in this race it was the “overcut” (if I may) that was the beneficial strategy? In all the top 3 teams, the front-running driver in each team lost out by pitting early – Kimi lost the lead, while Bottas and Verstappen both dropped behind Ricciardo.

      Was it just that the US tyres didn’t degrade, allowing the ‘following’ driver in each team cut loose once they got clear track ahead? And if so, how come that wasn’t factored into the strategy, surely Thursday’s long runs would have made it apparent.

      1. A combination of factors, mostly involving what the backmarkers were doing. In the Seb/Kimi case Ericson was ahead of Kimi and slowing him up before his pit stop. Once Kimi pitted, Ericson pitted shortly after which turned Vettel loose with a clear track ahead of him. I believe something similar took place with RIC and VER. None of which the teams could factor into their strategy.

      2. From what Vettel said, US tyres seemed to have gone then came alive unexpectedly. Then again, Verstappen’s outlap was actually really good, green and purple sectors. At that point, I(and likely Ferrari as well) was certain that undercut was the way to go. VER was blocked by Bottas from the next lap, so we can’t be sure undercut itself was a wrong strategy. Raikkonen’s lap times before the pit stop was really poor with or without the traffic. He was a lot quicker on new super softs. Even so, we now know comparably Raikkonen’s SS pace was not even close to Vettel’s. So it’s hard to say how much was about the driver and how much was about the tyres.

    5. “It’s not great of course, what we did.”

      Redbull brought in Verstapen knowing Bottas will have to react, and Ricardo will benefit from it all.

      Verstapen was the clickbait, Merc didn’t call their bluff and things went perfectly to plan for Redbull. Their cars finished 3&5 instead of 4&5, but with the drivers switched around.

      1. They could even have gotten 3&4 if Verstappen’s pitstop went well. Smart move from RB indeed.

        Just wondering, could they have tried to undercut Bottas with Riciardo? Thus giving Verstappen the better strategy instead of using him as “clickbait”.

        1. No, because Bottas would have had enough of a margin to react to Ricciardo stopping. But this could have led to Verstappen overcutting them.

          I suppose the question is whether Red Bull knew an overcut was possible. Verstappen and Bottas were always going to be held up by Sainz, doesn’t matter in which order. Meaning an overcut was definitely a good idea.

      2. What comes around goes around. Spain 2016.

        1. But in spain 2016 both Ferrari and RBR were unsure which was the better strategy, I think they both thought a 2 stopper, why else put Vet and Ric on that strategy. It was a bit of a gamble and the secondary guys (at that time surely ver was considered number 2) in fact had the Better strategy. Fair to say this was a gamble and even unexpected.

          In Monaco they lured Bottas and hoped they could make the undercut but were sure they could make the overcut, by a wide margin. That was not a gamble at all. They hoped 3 and 4 and due to the front wheel issue got 3 5, still better than 4 and 5. RBR was smart to use their 2 cars opposed to just the one Bottas.

          Spain was a gamble and the B option turned out the better one, Monaco was a well thought out choice.

          1. Bottas wouldn’t have been “lured” if the better strategy was clear. Mercedes would have known the undercut was not going to work and stayed out instead of trying to cover for it.

            This is pretty much the same as Spain 2016.

    6. I was a bit angry 1st when I saw what happened with Max. One of the wheels went on a little too slow, at the time it looked like that costed him the podium.

      Later I found out that SAI was also still in front of him, so he’d probably would be overtaken by RIC in the pits anyway. Just a matter of getting free air to put in some laps on the US tyre against SS.

      I do feel that Max is not getting what he deserves when it comes to points, because to me he’s looking faster than RIC this season. But somehow the podiums seem to fall right into RIC’s hands the last 2 races.

      It actually looks a little bit better with the car in Spain and Monaco, so hopefully we get to see more 3 team action for the podium

      1. Micheal (@shakengandulf)
        29th May 2017, 6:10

        Honestly to me… it looks as though either max is good at getting heat into the tyres or Ric is bad at it.
        I believe the latter.

    7. I think the teams are having a bit of trouble calculating when the tires will go off. When Max and Kimi were called in, I think the teams expected the tires of Seb and Daniel to die shortly after forcing them to pit. But the tires seemed to come back to life and they were able to continue not just doing decent times but good times. I believe something similar happened in Spain when Ferrari expected Hamilton’s tires to die toward the end of the race giving Seb the advantage however Hamilton’s tires didn’t die.

    8. No conspiracy here….

      I doubt anyone “planned” for an overcut – has it actually been effective anywhere before?

    9. Antoon van Gemert
      29th May 2017, 10:18

      I understand the frustration of Max Verstappen during/after the race, but this is Monaco and it can bite you very hard. Max opened the dance of pitstops, shortly followed by Bottas and it didn’t work for them, so they both lost one position. I think it was the wrong call at the wrong moment with a too little chance of succes. Max pitstop had a slight hick-up (right front tyre), but Bottas had a good one and yet they both lost to Ricciardo and had at one moment a gap of 11 seconds to Ricciardo, probably due to traffic. Vettel and Ricciardo took advantage of the situation when their teammates pitted and that’s what you should do in Monaco, because overtaking is now almost impossible with the faster an wider cars. A real shame and again, I’m afraid, proof that these cars are very difficult to overtake and that’s bad news for Formula 1! I remember great overtakes of the past coming out of the tunnel from the likes of Ayrton Senna and Nigel Mansell, but this year it seemed that the only possibility for overtaking was on the slow parts of the circuit, but even then it ended up in tears for Jenson Button and Sergio Perez. Of course Monaco should stay on the calendar forever, because it’s one of the great traditions of this sport, and I really love it because of the unexpected things that can happen. Max Verstappen and Kimi Raikkonen where the victims yesterday, but I’m glad that Max, in his third attempt, at least broke the Monaco-curse and scored some good points with a fifth place. So he had a little bit to smile about, but yes he could have been on the podium…….

    10. Max is still raw ,he may be fast but he constantly makes small mistakes that cost him. Ric is off to Ferrari in 2018 if he has half a chance of getting Kimi’s seat and he’d be mad not to as Max will be the favoured son at RB into the future.
      Head to head and in the head I think Ric and Bottas are a better rounded drivers at the moment than Max.

      1. Antoon van Gemert
        29th May 2017, 11:44

        They all ‘constantly make small mistakes’! That’s what you get when you have to fight for tenths of a second every free practice, qualifying and race. Max didn’t made a mistake yesterday, it was just, as I said earlier, the wrong call at the wrong moment with a too little chance of succes. I don’t know about the contract that Ricciardo has with Red Bull, but I guess it all depends of how Red Bull will developed this year. Ricciardo is much more critical about the car than Max. It’s very clear Red Bull missed the boat in the fights for the championships and that’s the biggest shame of this season. What a fight it would be with six cars! True, Ricciardo has seen it happen all before and can’t wait forever to have his chance, but Max will stay loyal to Red Bull for at least the next year. Don’t you worry about the inside of Max his head: faster then Daniel in all the sessions in Spain and, but one, in Monaco were Ricciardo is normally very strong. In other words: Max has him in the bag!

    11. Last years error with Ricciardo straightened out. Start with a clean sheet.

      1. Antoon van Gemert
        31st May 2017, 19:33

        Errors should’nt be straightened out. If that’s the case we could go on en on cleaning the sheets. Errors happen, deal with it and let’s race fair en free!

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