Despite winning last weekend in Imola, Verstappen came close to being beaten by McLaren’s Lando Norris who finished less than a second behind him.
Red Bull’s early advantage over their rivals appears to have been cut significantly over recent rounds. Verstappen suffered his first defeat in a race he finished in 2024 in Miami, where he was beaten by Norris.
Although Verstappen managed to take pole position in Imola and hold off Norris over the closing laps, Verstappen expects a different dynamic this weekend in Monaco.
“It’s a completely different track,” the Red Bull driver said. “I think looking at the track layout, it’s probably not going to be our best track, just because our car normally struggles a bit over bumps and kerbs.
“We did work on it a bit compared to last year. I think so far, on most of the tracks that we’ve been to, our low-speed performance has improved a little bit. But I don’t think this is going to be a very easy weekend.”
Red Bull have won the last three Monaco grands prix in a row. Verstappen scored two of those wins, in 2021 and 2023. However he said “Monaco never is very straightforward, even when you are supposed to have the best car.
“So we just need to be honest. Of course, Imola started off really bad and we managed to turn it around. I wouldn’t want to have a weekend like that again – it’s quite stressful and not nice. But we know that this is a more difficult track for us, even though we have won here in the past. It’s quite complicated. So we’ll see where we’re at tomorrow.”
As the ultimate outlier circuit on the calendar, Monaco can produce unexpected results – such as Alpine’s Esteban Ocon qualifying and finishing third in the event last season. Verstappen says he expects Red Bull will face intense competition from their rivals in Monte Carlo.
“I mean naturally from our side, I think it is one of the more difficult tracks for us,” he said. “In the last few years, I think Ferrari has always been very, very strong here. Plus McLaren, lately, their last two races really ramped up in performance. So they for sure are the ones to watch as well.
“In Monaco, you might have some surprises – last year Esteban did an amazing lap as well in qualifying. So these kind of things in Monaco, they can happen when someone feels really good and confident. So we’ll see what happens.”
Red Bull have dominated the last two championships, with Verstappen winning both drivers’ titles with relative ease. However, he does not expect to enjoy a major advantage over Red Bull’s rivals over the races to come.
“I think after Miami, it was quite clear when we went into Imola that it had all closed up quite a bit, even though Imola was probably also not our easiest weekend,” he said.
“It will depend now who will put more performance on the car, find the best possible set-up on the car. But for sure things have closed up, which – I think from our side – makes it very important to try and be at our very best – 100%.
“I know that is not always a very realistic possibility, but you always try to get to a certain point and maybe the last few races we haven’t been operating at that. Every single weekend we try again and try to find the best possible set-up in the car. But for sure you can see it’s definitely closing up.”
Despite the level of competition increasing, Verstappen remains confident in Red Bull’s ability to hold onto their lead in both championships even if they are caught by their rivals.
“Being at the front for quite a few years as a team, the way we operate, I think it can make a difference to teams that are trying to chase that,” he said. “We just try to stay calm and collected.
“We know that the last few races, teams have been catching up or have beaten us. Of course we want to try and improve as well, but I do think with the experience that we’ve had over the last few years, it makes us a very tough team to beat in the championship, because we don’t make many mistakes.
“Naturally you try to always optimise everything and that’s, I think, life in general – you keep on learning, you keep on trying to be better. But I think that does make us very dangerous in a championship fight.”
