Verstappen DNF’s in Monaco after playing catch-up: “Very disappointing”
Published on 29 May 2016 by Mike Motilall
The Monaco Grand Prix was not so fortunate for Max Verstappen. Starting from the pitlane, as a result of a crash during qualifying, the Dutchman proved that overtaking was no issue during the race in Monaco. His charge through the field, on a track that was getting dryer, was halted when he crashed at Massenet. He was running in ninth. Lewis Hamilton snatched victory from pole-sitter Daniel Ricciardo, having been able to keep him at bay lap after lap. Surprisingly, it was Sergio Perez who came in third in his Force India. Nico Rosberg, leading the standings in the world championship, finished in seventh. He was eventually passed by the other Nico (Hulkenberg) in the final lap.
”This is very disappointing, especially for the team”, as Verstappen reflects on the race with a heavy heart. “This shouldn’t have happened. I locked up my front wheels in turn three and just went off the ideal line. It was still wet there and I started to slide. After that there was not much more I could do.” Although the impact was quite severe, Verstappen is ok: “I only hurt my knees a bit, that’s all.” But there is still something positive out of all of this according to the youngster: “In terms of pace, we can be happy about the speed.” For the next race, in Canada, Verstappen will have the new TAG Heuer-engine at his disposal. His team mate was fortunate to have that this weekend in his Red Bull RB12. “We need to focus ourselves on that. In Barcelona it went well, today not so, in Canada we’ll go on fighting.”
Even before the race got underway, things were not going as planned for the Dutchman. The team was forced to change the entire right suspension because of problems with the wheel nut on the right front wheel. Due to the heavy down pour, there will be no regular start of the race. The field is let loose after having driven some seven laps behind the safety car. Verstappen starts from the pit lane on the full wets. Because of the safety car and having started from the pit lane, Max clocks the fastest lap, a 1:52.790.
Daniil Kvyat has major problems: he’s stuck in pit-limiter mode. After two laps he goes back in, and the car suddenly seems to be working well. He is able to rejoin at the back of the field but is by now one lap down on the rest.
At the start, Verstappen immediately passes Pascal Wehrlein. Kevin Magnussen, Jenson Button and Kvyat all switch to the intermediates. After a virtual safety car, Max passes Rio Haryanto and is in fifteenth. He is, including his overtake, already 1,2 seconds faster than Marcus Ericsson, in front of him.
Kimi Räikkönen makes a mistake in de Loews hairpin and loses his front wing. This results in steering problems, causing him to push Romain Grosjean also in the barriers as the Frenchman tries to overtake him from the outside line. The Fin parks his Ferrari at the chicane behind the guard rails.
In lap 13, Verstappen running in the thirteenth spot, pits for intermediates and rejoins the pack in seventeenth. More and more drivers are switching to the intermediates, also Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso. Nico Rosberg is unable to get his car working properly in the rain and is forced to let his team mate Lewis Hamilton pass.
Verstappen is charging through the field and makes little work of Felipe Nasr, Ericsson, Magnussen, Valtteri Bottas and Pascal Wehrlein. He clocks the fastest time with a 1:32.859, only to improve that by two tenths one lap later. Kvyat and Magnussen run into each other at La Rascasse, causing them to pit their damaged cars.
Max overtakes Button, putting him in the points after 24 laps, and again he does the fastest lap. With a 1:30.853 he is more than two seconds faster than anyone else on track. With over 50 laps left, all is looking very sunny for the Dutchman. He is just some nine seconds away from a podium finish, but is stuck behind Esteban Guttierez.
Ericsson is the first one brave enough to strap on the slicks on his car. Almost the entire top runners immediately follow. Max as well, but as one of the few, goes for the soft compound tyre. The majority opt for the ultra-soft tyres. Daniel Ricciardo, having started from pole and at that moment heading for a win, loses a lot of time when he pits and his tyres are not ready. This causes Lewis Hamilton to take over the lead.
When Max is on Carlos Sainz’ tail, in lap 35, poised to overtake him, he loses downforce in Massenet, turning in for Casino. He starts sliding and hits the guard rail because it is still wet just off of the ideal line. His race is over even before he hits the half way mark.
At the front, Hamilton and Ricciardo are in a bitter fight for the lead. The Brit is able to fend off the Ossie lap after lap, even though the Red Bull is clearly faster than the Mercedes at moments. Hamilton, eventually, comes out on top and snatches victory as Ricciardo demanded too much from his tyres.
Nasr gets a team order to let his team mate Ericsson pass, but takes his time complying. The Swede tries to make his move on Nasr in La Rascasse as it was taking too long for him to get pass. The move didn’t stick: both drivers are forced to pit their cars due to the collision and eventually drop out. Guttierez also has a moment at the same corner, but is able to keep his car out of the barriers.
Sergio Perez smiles from ear to ear having claimed the third spot on the podium. He has managed to keep Sebastian Vettel in his Ferrari at bay. Fernando Alonso finishes quite decently in fifth. In the final lap, Nico Hülkenberg is able to pass Rosberg, resulting in both Germans taking the sixth and seventh spot. Carlos Sains remained in eighth, Button takes ninth as Massa rounds up the top ten. Due to the many virtual safety car situations and a track that was gradually getting dryer, the entire race was just 31 seconds shy of the full two hours.
Monaco Grand Prix - Monte Carlo - Sunday 29 May
RACE RESULTS P Driver Team Time 1 Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes 1:59:29.133 2 Daniel Ricciardo AUS Red Bull +7.252s 3 Sergio Perez MEX Force India +13.825s 4 Sebastian Vettel GER Ferrari +15.846s 5 Fernando Alonso ESP McLaren +85.076s 6 Nico Hulkenberg GER Force India +92.999s 7 Nico Rosberg GER Mercedes +93.290s 8 Carlos Sainz ESP Toro Rosso +1 lap 9 Jenson Button GBR McLaren +1 lap 10 Felipe Massa BRA Williams +1 lap 11 Valtteri Bottas FIN Williams +1 lap 12 Esteban Gutierrez MEX Haas +1 lap 13 Romain Grosjean FRA Haas +2 laps 14 Pascal Wehrlein GER Manor +2 laps 15 Rio Haryanto INA Manor +4 laps NC Marcus Ericsson SWE Sauber DNF NC Felipe Nasr BRA Sauber DNF NC Max Verstappen NED Red Bull DNF NC Kevin Magnussen DEN Renault DNF NC Daniil Kvyat RUS Toro Rosso DNF NC Kimi Raikkonen FIN Ferrari DNF NC Jolyon Palmer GBR Renault DNF
