Max Verstappen's third place in Monaco may have allowed him to pull further clear of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc in the Drivers' Championship, but the reigning World Champion spent the weekend firmly in the shadow of his teammate Sergio Perez. With the Mexican driver having a slight edge through Friday practice and on into qualifying, it was Perez who capitalised on Ferrari's fluffed pit strategy to come out in the lead and win the race. The pace advantage that Verstappen appeared to have over Perez throughout 2021 has all but vanished during the first seven races of 2022, and Jos Verstappen believes that his son is contending with a car that doesn't quite suit his style so much. "As a father, I was also disappointed with the race," he wrote in his column for Verstappen.com . "Max's third place was very disappointing. We all saw that it was a difficult weekend for him. It starts with the car, which simply doesn't have the characteristics for his driving style yet. "Max has far too little grip at the front axle. And especially in Monaco, with all those short corners, you need a car that turns very quickly. That was just hard."
Verstappen: FIA caution "taking the edge off"
The veteran F1 racer also reckons that the delayed start to the Monaco race ended up spoiling an unpredictable start in increasingly heavy rain. "I think they should have just started at three o'clock.," he said. "These days it seems that everyone at Race Control gets stressed at the first sight of a few drops of rain. "Sure, it would have been a chaotic start and the teams would have been in doubt as to which tyre would have been the best option. But that is what people want to see. "Now they just waited, then it turned out there were also problems with the starting lights. "FIA or the organisation, whoever is responsible, should make sure there is a back-up for situations like this and that the equipment is in order. "Now we get starts behind the Safety Car, which, in my view, takes the edge off. Especially on a circuit like Monaco. We live in a competitive, professional sport. Things like this cannot happen."
Changes to tyre situation
Verstappen also pointed to the ongoing situation with the Pirelli full wet tyres, with the Dutch racer saying that the capabilities of the tyres are not the measure of what was on offer during his F1 career. "I find it incredible to see how little grip the drivers have on the full wets," he commented. "This is not new during the last race but has been going on for a long time. Something should be done about it. "They must ensure that the tyres can cope with three centimetres of water. We used to be able to do that too, back in the competition days with Bridgestone and Michelin. "Also, red flags come out very quickly these days. [Yuki] Tsunoda hit the crash barrier with his left front wheel in qualifying and a red flag was waved immediately. You are ruining it for the other drivers."
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