MAX VERSTAPPEN’S father has slammed Red Bull for “favouring” Sergio Perez at the Monaco Grand Prix.
The 32-year-old Mexican secured his first win of the season, and the third of his career, by taking advantage of errors from Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz during the rain-affected race.
But Jos Verstappen was left fuming after his current F1 world champion and championship leader only finished third as he claimed that his boy was not being prioritised by the team.
Verstappen Snr wrote in a blog post: “Red Bull achieved a good result, but at the same time exerted little influence to help Max to the front.
“That he finished third, he owes to Ferrari’s mistake at that second stop of Charles Leclerc.
“The championship leader, Max, was not helped in that sense by the chosen strategy. It turned completely to Checo’s [Perez] favour.
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“That was disappointing to me, and I would have liked it to be different for the championship leader.”
He continued: “Perez actually won the race because of the earlier pit stop.
“The team can perhaps explain that as a gamble, but they had already seen, with for example Gasly, that the intermediates were the best option at the time.
“I would have liked them to go for Max, but of course I am not entirely objective.
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“I think ten points from Max have been thrown away here. Especially with the two retirements we’ve had, we need every points.
“Don’t forget that Ferrari currently has a better car, especially in qualifying.”
And Jos was not finished there as he also fired shots at the unresponsiveness of the Red Bull car on the circuit.
He added: “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.”
Perez was quicker than Verstappen, who remains top of the championship, over the weekend and sits third in the overall standings with 110 points.
