Red Bull team principal Christian Horner says Max Verstappen must cut out his errors after a crash in practice meant he missed qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix.
Verstappen is set to start the race from last position after damaging his car in the final minutes of the third practice session. It’s the latest in a series of errors and collisions which have blighted the Red Bull driver’s season.
“This place bites and he got bit pretty hard today in a session which doesn’t really count for anything other than setting the car up,” Horner told Channel 4.“He’s in a car that’s capable of winning this grand prix and that will hurt him even more because you don’t get that many opportunities to win a Monaco Grand Prix.
“He needs to learn from it and stop making these errors. He knows that more than anybody. I would think it was a pretty painful qualifying for him watching what could’ve been.”
Verstappen has consistently rejected criticism of his aggressive driving style. However Horner said he hopes this latest incident will prompt him to change his approach.
“I hope so,” he said. “I don’t know what else will.
“As I said we’ve got a great car. He’s a phenomenally fast driver and would have been able to be competing for the pole position today.
“For the whole team to be with such a strong car only running one-legged is frustrating. But I have to compliment all the guys in the garage. Both car crews doing their best to get him out into that session but unfortunately this time it wasn’t to be.”
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2018 F1 season
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Phylyp (@phylyp)
26th May 2018, 15:30
You know stuff’s going down when Horner criticizes his favoured driver.
Sush meerkat
26th May 2018, 15:39
And for once Helmut is staying quiet!
Pinak Ghosh (@pinakghosh)
26th May 2018, 15:38
There are both good and bad sides to this. The good side is Red Bull can put all their concentration on Daniel while hope that Max gets a good recovery. It is also good that the two are not on the front row and therefore there is no chance of an inter team battle which is still fresh in the memory from Baku. It is bad because Red Bull will lose out on championship points.
Todfod (@todfod)
26th May 2018, 17:30
There’s a really bad side to it as well… that Red Bull have not had a one-two finish in nearly 5 years, and they blew their best opportunity to do so.
Jack Jeffreys (@jack1501)
26th May 2018, 17:39
2016 Malaysia Grand Prix?
Todfod (@todfod)
26th May 2018, 23:48
@jack1501
Aaah.. sorry mate. Forgot about that one.
Esploratore (@esploratore)
27th May 2018, 0:26
It’s impossible with 2018 spec verstappen anyway, you just blamed red bull for losing a 1-2, remember china this year? We all know verstappen is usually faster than ricciardo and was in front of him, and he’s good at overtaking when he doesn’t make mistakes, so that’s a 1-2 lost there and possibly even here if none of their cars is due a mechanical problem this race, both cause of verstappen, red bull is doing a very good job whenever the opportunity presents itself (china is a good example).
Tim
26th May 2018, 15:45
I’d honestly drop him to ToroRosso for a race or two. He’s having a terrible year and has cost the team so many points already. He’s clearly quick, but Ricciardo is often on his pace so RedBull can easily afford a slightly slower and safer number 2. He’s lucky there’s no wonder kid currently at ToroRosso because I’m sure Kyvat was banished for much less than this.
Michael Brown (@)
26th May 2018, 15:55
inb4 Gasly/Hartley wins their very first race for Red Bull
Frankly
26th May 2018, 16:08
Horner should hire Alonso.
John H (@john-h)
26th May 2018, 17:20
I agree with this.
Pat
26th May 2018, 22:01
Newey wanted ALO several years ago but Marko chose VES.
Esploratore (@esploratore)
27th May 2018, 0:29
Alonso would be good indeed at red bull, although they usually only take young drivers, but they’d be really strong this year with a fast AND safe driver like alonso.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
26th May 2018, 16:20
Demoting him might be harsh, but bench him for a race, and give Gasly a shot.
Tim
26th May 2018, 17:15
I agree it’s harsh but I honestly think it’s needed now. He hasn’t had a clear weekend all season and even his good race in Spain wasn’t without incident ( bump with stroll) he was super lucky that it didn’t ruin his race as having to stop for a wing change would have put him down the order.
I think he’s just trying too hard to live up to his own hype.
Chaitanya
26th May 2018, 17:27
At this point Verstappen has lost more points and taken out championship contender more frequently than Kvyat ever did at the point of drop from RBR to Torro Rosso. Just watch the body language of Adrian Newey after crash in Bahrain, and Baku and today Helmut Marko’s body language. Seems like this team as been cutting off to much slack for him and he just goes around crashing.
Daniel
26th May 2018, 19:22
The problem with Kvyat is that his highs were never even close to Verstappen’s highs, so Red Bull tolerates Verstappen’s terrible lows more than his, and, of course, I agree that Verstappen is lucky that Toro Rosso has no Leclerc or Ocon, even though Gasly is pretty decent.
Zad (@)
26th May 2018, 15:48
max won’t get to the finish line…
crashing or finishing 11th or below doesn’t make a difference and i’m sure max favours crashing
MG1982 (@mg1982)
26th May 2018, 15:49
Oh, no, please don’t stop now… I’m starting to enjoy it!
Garns (@)
26th May 2018, 15:52
Looking forward to what Max can do from last, I guess if you pick any driver the cause an excitement to do so its him. Should be exciting.
Zad (@)
26th May 2018, 15:59
i presume he will torpedo himself to about 11-12th place when his opponents realize it’s better to crash than finish 11th. the whole race strategy of crashstappen is to be willing to crash while assuming the others are not. the name crazymax from nico was spot on actually
Tarheelpup
26th May 2018, 19:56
That was sort of Senna’s strategy as well. Unfortunately for Max, he’s no Senna.
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
26th May 2018, 18:55
I think the important thing is to avoid being lapped by the front runners.
Jere (@jerejj)
26th May 2018, 15:54
I couldn’t agree more with him, LOL. Without taking the unnecessary risk late in FP3, and, therefore, subsequently crashing out it could very well be an RBR-front row lockout for this race, but it wasn’t to be due to that error.
Tristan (@skipgamer)
26th May 2018, 15:54
It’s the opposite of Steiner not criticising Grosjean. One horse is getting the carrot so he can limp home faster before being put down. The other horse is getting the stick because he’s fit and healthy but needs to be brought in line.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
26th May 2018, 16:21
Brilliant comment @skipgamer
MCBosch
26th May 2018, 15:57
More then likely Max has put something in his contract to prevent RedBull from moving him to Torro Rosso. RB were more then happy with the new contract with MV, now they’ll have to stick with it during bad times. Let’s not forget: they ‘fell in love’ with Max’s driving (style) and when it produces results it’s awesome to watch. Now that it doesn’t produce the results you can complain all you want, but that doesn’t make the relation with the driver any better. Just suck it up Christian Horner and Helmut Marko. Or release Max from his contract.
Homerlovesbeer (@homerlovesbeer)
26th May 2018, 16:03
An interesting post by Luhesis Tesla on another forum….
Well done, Max
A list of achievements:
1) Australia – spin (race)
2) Bahrain – spin (qualification, 15th)
3) Bahrain – crashed w/ Hamilton (race, retired, no penalty)
4) China – crashed w/ Vettel (race, a 10-second penalty)
5) Baku – crashed w/ Ricciardo (race, retired, reprimanded)
6) Spain – crashed w/ Stroll (race, front wing damage)
7) Monaco – crashed (FP3, missed qualification, 20th)
Ps. It’s the 6th race this season and “the youngest pole-sitter” isn’t on the list despite the best car in Monaco
Alex Bkk (@alex-bkk)
26th May 2018, 16:23
Wow! I haven’t seen his results for this season in print before… Thanks Homer!
TFLB (@tflb)
26th May 2018, 16:08
A few more weekends and hopefully a swap with Sainz will be on the cards. To all those saying ‘but but but he’s only 20 he’ll learn’ – well, Kvyat was only 21 when dropped and had less experience.
Zad (@)
26th May 2018, 16:14
fernando will more than likely overtake him in the points… in a car that’s about a second per lap slower.
Antizyklon
26th May 2018, 20:34
Well, Fernando is the only other driver besides Hamilton and Vettel to score points in every race this year until now, so thats more than possible. I wonder where Alonso would stand with max’s redbull.
Esploratore (@esploratore)
27th May 2018, 0:40
It’s not hard to estimate, we know alonso is generally fast but not as fast as verstappen when he’s on a very good day, and that he makes little to no mistakes, so:
Australia, wouldn’t have spun but I don’t think he’d have jumped raikkonen, unless he was very lucky with VSC, 4th, 12 points
Bahrein, red bull says the qualifying spin was due to a power surge, let’s believe them, alonso starts 15th, isn’t fast enough to catch hamilton in the first laps, but everything considered 4th place is surely doable, 12 points
China, alonso, like ricciardo, doesn’t take excessive risks and wins, 25 points
Baku, it was a relatively slow race for verstappen, so I think alonso could’ve held off ricciardo, they had just put on US, I’m not sure he’d have been able to catch and overtake hamilton or bottas, 4th, 12 points
Spain, overall good race for verstappen, bottas was a bit far off and with by far the best car, I don’t think more than 3rd was doable, 15 points
76 points for alonso I’d say, he’d be up there with vettel fighting for 2nd place.
Esploratore (@esploratore)
27th May 2018, 0:41
Ah, obviously I didn’t calculate how many less points other drivers would have, there shouldn’t be a huge difference and it was just to show how well alonso could’ve done with a decent car.
As for monaco qualifying, think alonso would’ve been 2nd, he’s not that strong in qualifying.
Scott
27th May 2018, 10:25
By memory Red Bull, and moreso Renault, denied the power surge theory. They said it was consistent with accelerator input, most likely when he ran over the curb. I’m happy to be corrected though.
kpcart
26th May 2018, 16:22
Horner should have said this after Baku, verstappen lost the team so much points that race. Instead the team played a political line saying, and making the drivers sat it too that is was both drivers fault when it clearly wasn’t.
Alex Bkk (@alex-bkk)
26th May 2018, 16:29
You can see the genius in him… but it isn’t tempered with maturity or patience.
Todfod (@todfod)
26th May 2018, 17:35
Completely agree. Phenomenal talent but hasn’t really matured since his first season.
HUHHII (@huhhii)
26th May 2018, 16:35
Kvyat was being demoted after one silly incident. Yes I know Verstappen probably has more raw talent so sticking with him could be rewarding in the long run, but maybe Gasly should have a go for a race or two? Then he could be replaced by Buemi for example in Toro Rosso. Or they could take Sainz back from Renault for a few weekends.
Bungaparty
26th May 2018, 20:47
That’s not correct. He ran into the back of Vettel 3 times in only 2 races. on the straight. That was way more silly than whatever VER ever did.
regs (@regs)
26th May 2018, 16:40
F1 simply needs age limit – 24 years.
Matteo (@m-bagattini)
28th May 2018, 10:15
@regs on point. I don’t agree with the age, more 20ish to me, but I’m with you in saying there should be a limit. Not enforced by anyone, just a common sense limit. Come on, we all were between 17 and 20 years. Probably, we all can recognize how immature we were then, how much we were wrong about a lot of things. Maturity comes with age.
Max beat Algersuari’s record by 2 years being F1 youngest driver. If he doesn’t change his approach, he can burn his career.
Big Joe
26th May 2018, 17:44
Funny how quiet Max’s critics were when he got his podium last race.
There is no stand-out driver so far this season. So he doest have much to worry about.
HK (@me4me)
26th May 2018, 18:33
Isn’t there? Personally I’d say Le Clerk is having a great rookie season. Also Gasly, Magnussen, Ricciardo, Vettel and Hamilton are doing very well.
Tom
26th May 2018, 19:05
Completely wromng @bigJohn
I’m not a fan but respect he has talent. There were plenty of comments about his race in Spain as he was again involved in an incident. He was really lucky he didn’t damage his front wing more.
johntodiffer
27th May 2018, 3:16
Not that I’d classify myself as a Max critic per se.
—
Makana (@makana)
23rd May 2018, 11:05
Qualy battle between Danny and Max will be phenomenal!
johntodiffer
23rd May 2018, 18:18
My money’s on a trip to the panel beaters
—
Max is clearly showing signs that too much of his experience, technique and attitude has been gleaned from the simulator.
Matteo (@m-bagattini)
28th May 2018, 10:17
He just did his job. He has one of the 6 best cars, he’s doing nothing special with a third place.
Fritz (@fritzoos)
26th May 2018, 17:47
Watch him fighting with KMag
pking008 (@pking008)
26th May 2018, 17:48
Sorry Horner. Far too little too late. The boy has ingrained in his head that he can do no wrong.
Dennis
26th May 2018, 18:43
Funny thing is, Newey wanted Alonso but Marko went with the youth movement and it has cost RBR dearly. To think last year him and daddy were threatening to go to Ferrari because things weren’t going good!
How many more points would Alonso have brought to RBR over this reckless prima donna?
They should have kept him in the Torro until he proved he was good enough – he would still be there no doubt.
I wonder who Marko will bring in once RIC heads to Ferrari? Another youngster no doubt.
Good decision Marko!
Sviat
26th May 2018, 21:40
Did he? This is the first time I hear such a claim.
Esploratore (@esploratore)
27th May 2018, 0:43
Calculated alonso would’ve 76 points now, slightly behind vettel!
medman (@medman)
26th May 2018, 18:55
Oh, so NOW Horner wants to admit young Max has a problem? I certainly would have hoped they would have been talking to him about his mistake prone issues all the while, but they have let him continue to be stubborn, obstinate, and boorish about mistakes which were always his and his alone. He has never owned his mistakes, wishing instead to live in a fantasy world where others are the problem. And this is the culmination of that result. Finally, Reb Bull management is addressing the issue and laying the blame where it lies, no longer afraid to challenge their talented, but precocious Max for fear of him losing the edge he needs to become great.
Sergey Martyn
26th May 2018, 20:36
Ever seen dr Marko doing twerk? That will be his body language if Max crash on Sunday. Do you remember Horner jumping into the pool? Into what he’ll jump tomorrow if Max crash? Monte Carlo bay?
I hope he will rise the mechanics salaries otherwise they go on strike rebuilding the car each racing weekend.
Dave
26th May 2018, 20:53
It can’t be stopped. This is probably the worst that can be…
JohnH (@johnrkh)
26th May 2018, 21:47
I’m guessing that Horner / Marko have spoken to Verstappen about his driving “style” privately a while ago. Red Bull have a considerable investment both financially and in reputation in Verstappen so I understand the apparent softly softly approach.
To start criticising him publicly is a big step and will definitely put huge pressure on Verstappen to deliver on his potential. Red Bull have shown they can be brutal and I would think Verstappen understands that without being told.
It’s always been up to Verstappen to show he can beat Ricciardo, so far he has not been able to do that with any level of consistency. On a single lap or two Verstappen is quick, but over a race and more importantly so far this season he is struggling to be in the same league as Ricciardo or the other top drivers on the grid.
Jorge Lardone (@jorge-lardone)
26th May 2018, 22:24
It is the right moment for CrashMax to return to Toro Rosso and race on that team until the end of the year. Maybe then he leave his arrogance behind and learn to race correctly.
Sergey Martyn
27th May 2018, 7:58
Imagine he returns to Toro Rosso and crashes again. And again. And again…