Verstappen reveals why he “couldn’t attack the corners” in second Monaco practice

Reigning champion Max Verstappen has revealed why he “couldn’t attack the corners” in the second practice session at the Monaco Grand Prix after the opening one-hour practice in which he looked fairly competitive.

Imola race winner Max Verstappen looked very strong in the opening practice at the Monaco Grand Prix, ending up second quickest behind pace-setter Charles Leclerc.

However, the reigning champion was unable to go significantly quicker in the second one-hour session despite the track evolution which is usually fairly meaningful at Monte Carlo.

The Dutchman conceded that the Milton Keynes-based outfit “pushed the balance” for FP2 which meant that he “couldn’t attack the corner” as in the opening practice.

“Monaco is always quite tricky with traffic. I think there were moments where it was quite dangerous, which isn’t ideal.

“I know it is practice but it could have been worse if you don’t back out of it quickly and don’t read the situation. In terms of how we are looking for the weekend, I think FP1 was quite positive but then we made some changes for FP2.

“We looked at how far we could push the balance and I think we just overdid it a little bit and I couldn’t attack the corners as much as I would have liked to. We were shedding a lot of pace and lap time. I don’t expect us to be the quickest, but we of course want to be a lot closer similar to what we were like in FP2.

“We could be a lot closer but the Ferraris again were looking fast and the McLarens were close behind. If you see over the whole season the pace, Ferrari has taken a big step forward here."