Strategy neutralized
The 2024 Monaco Grand Prix can be summed up in one word Max Verstappen: boredom. The reigning world champion’s few hopes of recovering some positions after sixth place in qualifying were wrecked at the moment of the race red flag waved during the first lap of the racewhich allowed the first four in the group to change tires, put on hard tires and lead the 78 laps that separated them from the checkered flag without problems.
The Monegasque stage thus turned into a predictable one parade of single-seaters that have never had the chance to surpass themselves. Verstappen was able to learn to know the rear of George Russell’s Mercedes W15 by heart as – despite the new tires fitted in the final part of the race – the Dutch champion never found an opening to attack. Both during the race, speaking via radio with the engineers, and after the GP, in interviews with journalists, the #1 from Hasselt expressed his thoughts with irony several times.
Cushion wanted
“Fuck, this is really boring, I should have brought the pillow“, one of his radio messages addressed to Giampiero Lambiase. “The red flag completely destroyed any kind of strategy, it was really very boring“, added the world champion, again via radio, after the checkered flag, in a sort of improvised debriefing with Christian Horner: “Yes, I think the only car to overtake was Stroll”the team principal’s reply, which Verstappen echoed: “Did you fall asleep?“.
Finally in the mixed zone the Dutch champion transformed himself into a sort of cabaret artist, joking in particular with George Russell on the total impossibility of doing anything other than walking in single file lined up one behind the other: “My God, it was a terrible thing. So boring”Verstappen commented laughing to the channel Viaplaywith Russell next to him who confirmed the same impressions. “We were ruining the tires from how slow we were going“, Russell’s reply.
The ‘proposals’ for the future
The two then made a suggestion some new ‘rules’ to be implemented for the Monaco GP: “We need mandatory pit stops“, Russell’s joke. “Yeah, like five”Verstappen’s sarcastic comment, to which the Red Bull standard-bearer would also add “a mandatory nap“. Certainly, thinking back to what happened in Imola, the idol of the Orange fans would have willingly exchanged the laps in Monaco for some nice online races on the simulator. Possibly on a track that favors overtaking.
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