‘It started with Perez’s little park’ - Why Verstappen wants to win Monaco GP

Verstappen decided not to follow team orders at the 2022 Sao Paulo Grand Prix to aid Sergio Perez’s fight against Charles Leclerc for second in the championship.

After the race, Verstappen hinted that he was irked by Perez’s actions in qualifying at Monaco earlier in the year hence his decision to not help his teammate.

After watching Perez’s Monaco onboard footage in Q3, it seemed that the Mexican crashed deliberately to bring out the red flag to ensure he out-qualified his teammate.

Perez would ultimately go on to win the race ahead of Carlos Sainz and Verstappen.

Speaking on the Sky Sports F1 podcast, Kravitz didn’t tip Verstappen for the victory this weekend, although expects that he will “want” to win because of the “disappointment of last year.

“I am going with 33, I am going with the 33rd win for Fernando Alonso,” Kravitz said. “I am going to get onboard with that hype train. I know he’s invested a lot into it. It’s a bit of a draggy car but it’s got great tyre performance and he’s such a clever guy who knows how to win around Monaco. 

“I know Max does, I know Lewis does. I just think it’s the result that he’s after and I think it would be a result maybe F1 needs.

Simon Lazenby added: “It’s all been smiles between the Red Bull pairing considering how it ended last year. Let’s not forget how it started - it started at Monaco with Perez’s little park.”

Kravitz concluded: “Well that’s the other reason why Verstappen wants to win and why I am completely wrong about Alonso winning Monaco. Verstappen will want to win Monaco because of that, because of the disappointment of last year.”