Verstappen explains issue which cost him FP2 running

Max Verstappen saw his second practice session for the Monaco Grand Prix hampered by debris getting lodged in the radiator of his Red Bull Formula 1 car.

The Dutchman was restricted to just 17 laps in FP2 after some debris entered the radiator area of his RB15 car and caused damage, resulting in the team having to carry out repair works for the majority of the session.

Verstappen’s lack of running meant he was unable to complete a representative qualifying or race simulation as he ended up sixth in the timesheets.

“Some debris flew in the airbox and the radiator and we had to replace it,” Verstappen explained.

“Before then it was alright I think that Mercedes is just a bit too quick. We should definitely fill up the gap between second and third.”

Verstappen finished a tenth behind teammate Pierre Gasly, who in turn was 0.8s adrift on the dominant Mercedes pacesetters of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas.

While both Red Bull drivers believe the reigning world champions will be out of reach in qualifying, they remain optimistic of challenging Ferrari for the second row of the grid.

“I think it was a good day,” Gasly said. “FP1 was a bit difficult, we made some changes for FP2 and I felt much better in the car so this was positive.

“We can see that we are in the fight with Ferrari, Mercedes is quite a long way ahead of us but we will have to work and see what we can extract on Saturday.

“It was a positive day just a shame we could not get more running with Max but I think we have more performance to get out of the package

“We can still improve a bit with the car we have but I feel confident and hopefully we can find a few extra tenths on Saturday.”