Race in Monaco was 'really, really boring' for Verstappen

World champion Max Verstappen called for a pillow on his team radio during Sunday’s precessional Monaco Grand Prix.

With no overtaking at the front of the field, such is the tight nature of the Monte Carlo track, Verstappen et al were forced into tyre management for much of the race following the first-lap red flag, brought out by the Dutchman’s Red Bull Racing team-mate Sergio Perez’s crash.

Forced to cruise four seconds a lap slower than they would like for most of the race, equidistant between the Mercedes of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton, Verstappen said the race was as dull from inside the cockpit and it looked from outside it, with the red flag causing strategy rather than race-craft to rule the day.

“It was quite boring!” he said. “We just finished where we started. The strategy got ruined by the red flag. We knew 77 laps on the medium tyre would be extremely hard. From the restart, we were driving four seconds off the pace, and we could chill. It was no work-out whatsoever, it was just really, really boring.

“Everyone was careful, no-one wanted to stress their tyres because you know we can’t pass around here.

“This has been a tricky, challenging weekend for us. Overall, it was a weekend to forget, but one to learn from.”

Having seemingly lost their early season dominance in the last three race weekends, Verstappen said the team now knows where they are losing time, adding: “We understand what our big weakness is, and that’s what we really have to work on. If we can solve it or at least make it decent, we’ll immediately gain some lap time.”