Max Verstappen touched the rails several times in the rain and almost lost everything

The Monaco Grand Prix was marked by the presence of rain at the halfway point. Max Verstappen did not crack under the tricky weather conditions. However, on several occasions, the Dutch driver pushed the limits, coming very close to the wall. Towards the end of his stint on his first set of tires, Max Verstappen was waiting for the first drops to appear before stopping.

Worn tires in the rain

As a result, on very worn tires (55 laps), Max Verstappen had to manage on a track that was becoming increasingly wet, particularly on certain corners only, in the streets of Monaco. It was a more than complicated task, requiring a lot of skill and concentration. The Dutch driver remained calm to bring his car to the pits in order to switch to intermediate tires.

“If the weather had been nice and sunny, I would have stopped earlier to put on the hard tires. But I couldn’t do it because of the looming risk of rain around the track. I had to stay out until the right moment,” explained Max Verstappen.

Dutch at its limits

The Dutch driver took risks when the track was no longer dry. In the footage from his on-board camera, the championship leader’s car repeatedly brushes against the barriers, especially at the Portier corner. It was almost impossible for him to maintain the temperature in his tires, leading to his mistake.

“With very worn-out tires, driving on this track was very difficult. I didn’t have a great time. I hit several barriers, especially on my pit stop lap. I think it was very, very challenging,” testifies the Dutch driver.

Find the right balance

Before his pit stop, Max Verstappen lost a lot of time to his closest pursuer, Fernando Alonso. The gap narrowed by nearly six seconds, while the Spaniard closed in on the double world champion. At that moment, Max Verstappen was managing his effort. The Red Bull driver didn’t want to take any risks to avoid losing everything.

« I had a very comfortable lead. I didn’t want to risk everything just to be fast and end up in a wall. You have to stay focused and be a bit more cautious,« added Max Verstappen. But at the same time, the Dutchman couldn’t slow down too much, risking losing all his advantage. « It’s important not to take too many risks, but at the same time, you have to stay somewhat fast. It seemed to me that I had Lando Norris in my gearbox, so I thought I had to accelerate,» he continued.

Finally, Max Verstappen convincingly and logically dominated the streets of Monaco. His race management in the rain allowed him to maintain the advantage over Fernando Alonso and he never panicked in the face of the Spanish driver’s comeback.