Verstappen admits Red Bull ‘overdid it’ with Monaco setup as Ferrari appears “very, very quick”

Max Verstappen, the reigning world champion, has admitted that Red Bull’s set-up changes between the first and second practice sessions of the Monaco Grand Prix may have been too extreme. This comes after he fell to the bottom of the grid on Friday.

The Dutch driver started the weekend strong, finishing second in FP1 behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. In FP2, he only managed to post the tenth fastest time, with the RB21’s new balance proving to be more problematic.

“I think FP1 has been very positive. We made some adjustments for FP2 so we could see how far we can push the balance,” Verstappen said. He finished the session seven tenths off Leclerc’s benchmark.

“I just think we overdid it, and then I couldn’t really approach the corners how I would have liked, you just lose a bunch of speed, and the lap time is basically not coming from it.”

Looking ahead to the remainder of the weekend, Verstappen acknowledged Ferrari’s strong form — reminiscent of last year’s pole position and race victory for Leclerc on the streets of Monte Carlo.

“I don’t expect us be the fastest. We want to be of course a lot closer than what we were in FP2… I’m also quite confident that we can be a lot closer, but Ferrari again looks very, very fast. McLarens are not far behind but, if you look at the overall pace of the season, I believe Ferrari has taken a major step forward.

Yuki Tsunoda, who is located on the Red Bull side, finished in P11, just 0.004s back of Verstappen, during FP2. The Japanese driver had to deal with traffic all day.

“As usual, this is a bit like a traffic tale,” he said. “I think everyone is the same, it’s almost down to luck to get one lap. In FP1 I did not have any laps. Fortunately I had a little more in FP2. It was fine. I’m not sure. [I was] You can read what limitations are in the soft [tyres]It’s still similar to the limitations I had in FP1. I don’t think I feel much difference between the soft and hard in terms grip. That’s why I’m struggling a little.”

Tsunoda is cautiously optimistic about his chances of recovering from the crash he suffered in Imola at the weekend.

“I mean, I think it’s improving. It was a big improvement over FP1, though I still need to get a few more bits from the car. I still need a few tenths. I know there’s some potential, so I will try to extract it myself. I’ll just keep [doing] “I’m going to try and build up my pace, so that I can hopefully put everything together in qualifying.”

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