Christian Horner addresses 'fundamental problem' after Max Verstappen podium miss

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has outlined the Circuit de Monaco's "fundamental problem", which stopped Max Verstappen from making any progress. 

The four-time world champion started in fourth but actually led large portions of the race; however, it was as a result of pitting after his rivals on both occasions. 

Once his mandatory two pit stops had been completed, the second of which at the end of the penultimate lap, the Dutchman remained in fourth position.

As outlined by Horner, whilst the new rule made the race more interesting from a strategic standpoint, the main problem remains an inability to overtake in Monaco.

"Yeah, I'd say it was an improvement. It was strategically more interesting," Horner told select media, including RacingNews365. 

"There was more jeopardy to it, certainly better than what we saw last year, where there was just a procession. 

"The fundamental problem is you cannot overtake here, and you can drive around three, four seconds off the pace. So that's the fundamental problem. It's circuit specific, we've known that, it's been on the calendar for 72 years."

Verstappen went long on all of his stints in the hope of a safety car or red flag, which would have handed him the actual lead of the race. 

Red Bull recognised it was the reigning world champion's only hope of victory, but was, unfortunately, to no avail as no safety car appearance was made.

"We rolled the dice a little bit today, starting on the hard our tactic was always to go long with the main opportunity being safety cars or red flags, which can sometimes be the case here," explained Horner. 

"So, Max led large portions of the race, but it was one of those Monaco's where everybody pretty much behaved. So, yeah, the first stop we got pretty close to Oscar. 

"At one point he had a wobble on his second lap out after his pit stop, but we would have been at best alongside. So we decided, look, we'll keep going."