Verstappen’s hopes were ended on the start line

Max Verstappen’s Monaco Grand Prix was over seconds after it started as he was forced into a first lap retirement.

The Dutchman was seeking his third win around the streets of the Principality for the team from Tilbrook, and put himself into a great position to strike with a sensational performance in qualifying.

Lining up second on the grid behind in-form championship leader Kimi Antonelli, Verstappen said he felt his Red Bull Racing start to perform strangely on the warm-up lap ahead of lights out, and as soon as the race got underway, the car stopped and he barely got off the line.

Fortunately avoided by those behind him on the tight streets, Verstappen crawled back to the pits where he retired on the spot, forced to watch the rest of the race from the sidelines.

Speaking afterwards, he said: “We don’t know what happened today but we think the issue was due to an engine problem. During the formation lap I could feel that something was off and the pre-start was terrible.

“There was no consistency and then, at the start, the engine just dropped out. I dropped the clutch and it went dead and had no power. When I got a bit more power back, unfortunately it was messed up so I had to bring it back slowly.

“It was such a shame for us as everything was going really well up to that point. We felt great in the car all weekend and to come out with no points and to finish the race like this when you do everything so well as a team is of course disappointing."

Team boss Laurent Mekies said: “We lost Max’s car straightaway with an engine issue. It was hard to take as he had incredible pace all weekend.

“It’s frustrating when you miss out on a big points score, but that’s part of the game, and we can only apology to him.”