Red Bull Pinpoint Fault Behind Verstappen’s Monaco Performance

Red Bull put an end to the uncertainty and confirmed that it has already identified the cause of the problem that led to Max Verstappen's retirement at the Monaco Grand Prix, the Dutchman suffered a failure during the formation lap and was out of the race even before the lights went out, a hard blow to his aspirations on a circuit where overtaking is practically impossible.

"We have identified what the problem is, it developed on the formation lap and gave him no opportunity, nor us" explained Laurent Mekies, director of the Austrian team, who wanted to make it clear that the failure was sudden and that there was no time to react.

The four time world champion had achieved a meritorious second place in Saturday's qualifying, beating the two Ferraris and placing himself just behind polesitter Kimi Antonelli, but bad luck prevented him from fighting for victory.

Mekies also revealed that the power unit used by Verstappen in Monte Carlo was going to be replaced anyway before the next race in Barcelona, as it was the first engine used by the Dutchman during the season. The team had already planned to introduce a new specification for the European tour, but the setback in the principality brought the plans forward and forced the mechanics to work against the clock to have everything ready for the next round.

Despite all the negatives, the Red Bull director wanted to highlight the performance shown by Verstappen during the weekend and lamented that the problem appeared just when the team was beginning to show signs of improvement. The RB22 had taken a step forward in recent races and Monaco presented itself as an opportunity to score a good haul of points, but the mechanical failure cut short any chance.

Now, Red Bull hopes to leave the setback behind and focus on the Spanish Grand Prix, a race that Verstappen himself considers key to measuring the team's true potential after the latest upgrades introduced to the car. The Dutchman trusts that the RB22 can be competitive at the Barcelona-Catalunya circuit, a more conventional track than the urban Monaco layout and where engine power becomes more relevant.

The Austrian team has worked intensively in recent weeks to solve the drivability problems that affected the car in practice, and the results are beginning to show, Verstappen hopes that bad luck will give him a break and that he can fight for wins in the upcoming races.