Horner delighted that Verstappen is within a victory from championship lead before Barcelona regulation change

F1 Grand Prix, GP Monaco, Monte Carlo Circuit

Although Red Bull failed to grab a podium finish at the Monaco Grand Prix, team boss Christian Horner is delighted that reigning champion Max Verstappen is still within a race victory from championship leader Oscar Piastri.

Although Red Bull came up with a host of strategy moves for Max Verstappen, the reigning champion finished from where he started the 78-lap Monaco Grand Prix.

The Dutchman qualified fifth, but he moved up the grid thank to a three-place grid penalty for Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton. Verstappen maintained his starting position at the start, and spent the majority on the race behind the trio of Lando Norris, Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri.

However, Red Bull came up with an ambitious strategy that saw Verstappen play the long game. With fifth-place Hamilton having rejoined the track almost 40 seconds behind the race leader following his last pit stop, Verstappen stayed out on the Monte Carlo track until the penultimate lap.

The Dutchman led the race from Norris and Leclerc, and was waiting for a potential red flag period which would have handed him the race victory. However, there was no interruption in the closing stages of the race, and the four-time F1 champion was forced to complete his second and last tyre service on Lap 77, ending the race in fourth place.

Expanding on Red Bull’s day at Monte Carlo, Christian Horner stated: "We rolled the dice today. It didn’t work and our best chance was a safety car or a red flag or VSC as you’re never going to overtake on track here.

“We went long with Max and he led a lot of the laps today but ultimately had to take that final stop.”

Red Bull’s Japanese driver Yuki Tsunoda started from P12 on the grid. Although he benefitted from an early virtual safety car interruption, tactical games saw him stuck in traffic. Tsunoda ultimately finished outside the points, bringing his Monaco weekend to a disappointing end.

“For Yuki we did the inverse, and pitted him on lap one, initially it looked like he would get significant benefit from it but then everyone started to drive extremely slowly, as they started playing around with their tactics.

“He was basically on the same set of tyres for the whole race and did his fastest laps at the end there when he finally got some clear air but it was done by then; an extremely difficult for him today.

Signing off with a word for the forthcoming Spanish Grand Prix, Horner said: “So, damage limitation today. We have only given away three points to Oscar, the Championship leader and we go into Barcelona within a race win and that was the target to hit this regulation change."