Max Verstappen's Monaco GP ends in disaster after engine failure at race start
It was a disastrous afternoon for Max Verstappen in the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday as an engine issue forced Verstappen to retire his car right on the restart.
Verstappen had started the race in second place after a successful qualifying campaign on Saturday. Qualifying in Monaco is vital as overtakes are almost impossible. Kimi Antonelli of Mercedes took pole position with Lewis Hamilton of Ferrari behind Verstappen.
For this reason, the start is vital, and it could not have gone worse for the four-time world champion. Verstappen got away initially for a few meters before abruptly stopping, with every car on the grid passing him after.
As expected, Verstappen showed significant frustration during the incident. “Yep, nice, completely shit guys, what the fuck man!” he said to his team during the incident.
After this, Verstappen asked his team what he should do with the answer being that he should “bring it home,” meaning that it was time to retire the car. The car had been retired due to an engine issue.
It was set to be another potential podium for Verstappen, who had gotten third place in the previous race, the Grand Prix of Canada. Prior to this, it had been a hugely frustrating season for Verstappen, who even said that he considered quitting due to the new regulations.
As things stand, Verstappen was already 88 points behind Antonelli entering Monaco. This failure to finish the race while the frontrunners score heavily could push that gap beyond 100 points after just six races, making a title challenge increasingly difficult.
