Max previews Monaco: "It"s all about the rhythm"

Published on 25 May 2017 by Stefan Meens

With the Monaco GP happening this weekend, we caught up with Max Verstappen to preview the most prestigious race on the F1 calendar.

Now that the Dutchman lives in Monaco, does that make the Grand Prix weekend more enjoyable? “It’s different because I’m not staying in a hotel. Instead of room service, I can just ask my mum if she can cook something, instead of using room service”, the youngster jokes.

The layout around the streets of Monte Carlo offers a unique challenge with mistakes proving costly. “It’s all about finding a rhythm. So you have to gain confidence in the car and do plenty of laps.”

This year, the track has been slightly changed by raising the curbstones at the swimming pool. “They’re pretty high so we have to avoid them. I don’t know why they made that change. After free practice there will probably be a lot chat about it. During the track walk they did look really high. You could be launched into the air as well as break your suspension. You’ll hit the barrier pretty hard”

The 2017 regulation change led to lap times dropping sometimes up to four or five seconds. “Around here I think it’s one and a half or two seconds. Because we have so much grip, we can go faster in the slower corners. It also means we can go on the throttle earlier. So all across the lap, the speed goes up.”

With Fernando Alonso contesting the Indy 500 instead of the Monaco Grand Prix. Jenson Button makes a return to the paddock for McLaren. “He might struggle with the width of the car. To find the limit in a car you haven’t driven isn’t easy.”

Red Bull Racing opted to choose one set of the harder Pirellis for each of drivers. The other tyres are all ultrasofts. “We won’t use the hard tyres in practice. You’ll use them to finish the race on, because in Monaco you can’t overtake.”

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