Max Verstappen suffered a frustrating retirement at the Monaco Grand Prix after a mysterious issue caused his car to stall on the starting grid. The four-time world champion was unable to get away cleanly, forcing him to limp back to the pits and eventually retire from the race.
Verstappen had qualified second, just 0.043 seconds behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, with Lewis Hamilton third and Charles Leclerc fourth. As the lights went out, Verstappen's car failed to launch, allowing Leclerc to swerve around him and Hamilton to move up to second.
Over team radio, race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase instructed Verstappen to bring the car back. A frustrated Verstappen responded with an expletive-laden outburst, later explaining: 'The engine just dropped out and I only got a little bit of power back after the first corner. The engine sounded really awful.'
Sky Sports F1's Martin Brundle expressed disappointment at losing what promised to be an exciting battle. 'I'm gutted about that,' he said. 'That was going to be so exciting watching Max trying to find a way through.'
Verstappen now looks ahead to the Barcelona Grand Prix next Sunday, hoping for a better result. 'It's a completely different track, all about high-speed and aero performance, so that will be an interesting weekend,' he said.
