Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner says Max Verstappen needs to cut out the mistakes, after his Monaco Grand Prix practice crash ruled him out of qualifying.
Red Bull finished 1-2 through the three practice sessions, with Verstappen runner-up to Daniel Ricciardo on each occasion, but the 20-year-old hit the wall at Piscine during the closing stages of FP3.
Red Bull attempted to repair Verstappen’s RB14 in time for qualifying but discovered an oil leak in the gearbox, and Verstappen was unable to take to the track, meaning he is set to start from the rear of the grid.
It marks the second time in three years in Monaco that Verstappen has suffered the fate, and comes after a disjointed start to his 2018 season, amid a spate of incidents and setbacks.
“We’ve got a great car, he’s a phenomenally fast driver and would have been able to be competing for the pole position today,” Horner told UK broadcaster Channel 4.
“For the whole team to only be running one-legged with such a strong car is frustrating.
“This place bites and he got bitten pretty hard today in a session that doesn’t really count for anything, other than setting the car up.
“He’s in a car that’s capable of winning this grand prix and that will hurt him even more because you don’t get that many opportunities to win a Monaco Grand Prix. He needs to learn from it and stop making these errors.
“He knows that more than anybody and I would imagine that was a pretty painful qualifying for him watching what could have been.”
Horner also heaped praise on Ricciardo after the Australian secured an emphatic pole position for Red Bull’s 250th Formula 1 Grand Prix.
“Daniel has been quickest in every session of the grand prix weekend so far,” said Horner.
“Each stage of qualifying he’s driving on confidence and the car is working beautifully. Around here that’s a good margin too.”
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