Verstappen felt on the formation lap that "something was off"
Following the disappointing end to his Monte Carlo weekend, four-time F1 world champion Max Verstappen disclosed that he had felt during the formation lap that something was not right with the power unit of his Red Bull RB22.
Max Verstappen delivered one of his finest qualifying laps of the season to secure second on the grid for the 2026 Monaco Grand Prix — a result that put him in genuine contention for victory around Formula 1’s most unforgiving circuit where he has already won twice.
But the Dutchman never even reached Turn 1. A sudden engine failure left him stranded at the start, ending what had been a near‑perfect weekend for both driver and team.
Red Bull’s hopes then rested solely on Isack Hadjar, who battled through shifting issues, power loss and multiple system faults to salvage a podium after Pierre Gasly’s post‑race penalties.
From the formation lap onward, Verstappen knew something was wrong: “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.”
The moment the lights went out, the RB22 simply didn’t respond: “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.”
With the car barely moving, Verstappen fell to the back of the field and limped back to the pits to retire at the end of Lap 1. For a driver who had been in complete control all weekend, the disappointment was immense: “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.”
Verstappen made no attempt to hide how much the lost opportunity hurt: “After such a nice weekend for us, you’d at least hope to be on the podium. We of course then retired basically straight away. It’s painful for everyone.”
“There’s also no need to be super upset because I think everyone is already really disappointed about it," continued the four-time F1 champion.
Pressed on to describe his feeling after the painful end to his Monte Carlo weekend, Verstappen said: “It’s just a shame for everyone. I really hoped that I could do something, or at least make it an exciting race and try to put the pressure on.
"I really felt good this whole weekend, and now to basically come away with zero points is probably even more painful," Verstappen concluded.
