Max Verstappen says he “tried everything” in his ultimately fruitless attempts at getting past Lewis Hamilton for the lead of Formula 1’s Monaco Grand Prix.
Verstappen emerged as Hamilton’s primary challenger in the wake of jumping Valtteri Bottas through the pit stop phase, though an unsafe release left the Dutchman with a five-second time penalty.
Hamilton struggled on the Medium tyres and Hard-shod Verstappen spent much of the race glued to the rear of the Mercedes W10.
Verstappen launched an attack with three laps remaining and the pair made contact, though both were able to continue without damage and maintain their previous order.
Verstappen came across the line half a second behind Hamilton but the penalty relegated him to fourth, behind Sebastian Vettel and Valtteri Bottas.
“I was trying to get ahead of Lewis because I knew that if I would get ahead I could drive off, because we were much faster and his tyres were destroyed, so he had no grip,” said Verstappen.
“I was trying everything I could. Around here, being in the dirty air for so long, within half a second, it’s really hard because in the high-speed corners you’re always sliding a lot and trying to keep it between the walls.
“But I enjoyed it. Of course it’s a shame to finish fourth, but myself I had a fun race.”
On the penalty, Verstappen said: “It fired me up. As soon as I heard the penalty I was pushing Lewis, because initially he was driving so slow.
“Then I heard the penalty so I just kept pushing him, then of course he had to push and he destroyed his tyres. So that was my only way of trying to get by.
“He was so slow in Turn 5 and 6 that we had a lot more. It’s easy to say that now but I felt we had a lot more pace. Lewis was clearly on the wrong tyre.”
