Max Verstappen is escorted by a doctor after his crash during the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday. Andrej Isakovic / EPA
Max Verstappen is escorted by a doctor after his crash during the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday. Andrej Isakovic / EPA
Max Verstappen is escorted by a doctor after his crash during the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday. Andrej Isakovic / EPA
Max Verstappen is escorted by a doctor after his crash during the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday. Andrej Isakovic / EPA

Max Verstappen needs to respond at Montreal after crashing back down to Earth in Monaco


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The Red Bull Racing garage would not have been a fun place to be on Sunday evening following the Monaco Grand Prix.

A botched pit stop conspired to ruin Daniel Ricciardo’s hopes of triumphing in the principality, and the miserable expression on his face during his media duties post-race showed all you needed to know about his feelings on the matter.

But, while there were a lot of understandable reasons for Ricciardo’s disgruntlement, there were a lot of reasons for him to be upbeat.

The Australian was superb all weekend, claiming his first pole position in Formula One, and being the quickest man in the race.

He lost the race through no fault of his own, but that happens in F1, like in any other sport.

Sport is not always fair. It can be cruel, and mistakes and fortune can define results rather than performance. While that will be no consolation to Ricciardo, he will know he did all that he could.

The weekend also saw him get the better of teenage teammate Max Verstappen, who had more reason to be upset with himself than Ricciardo.

Having been the hero in Spain as he shattered the history books by winning a race at the age of 18, this was a case of coming back down to Earth with a bump.

Matching Ricciardo was always going to be hard in Monaco, given the Australian received Renault’s new power unit, worth a reported extra 0.3 seconds a lap in performance.

Verstappen had not, as only one was available to Red Bull, so the chances of beating Ricciardo was always going to be a huge ask.

More from Monaco Grand Prix:

• F1 analysis: Lewis Hamilton, with some overdue good luck, ends drought in Monaco

• Gallery: Hamilton in celebration mode after winning action-packed Monaco Grand Prix

• Race report and results: Hamilton claims first win of the season in Monaco to trim Rosberg's lead

But he would have been looking to push him as hard as possible both in qualifying and the race, so the argument could have been made that he was only beaten because of the disparity in engines.

However, Verstappen crashed in qualifying, leaving himself at the back of the field, and then after showing impressive speed in the mixed conditions on Sunday, he slammed into the barriers again after getting himself up to ninth.

Mistakes happen in F1, and every world champion and great in the sport has crashed during a race at one time or another.

Verstappen was pushing to the limit as he looked to make up ground, pushed too hard and made an error. How he reacts at the next round in Canada on June 12 is the interesting element.

Yes, he won in Spain, but he was out-performed by Ricciardo for much of the business end of that weekend.

Ricciardo had out-qualified him, and was leading him in the race before he was put on a three-stop strategy by Red Bull to counteract the threat from Ferrari behind, while Verstappen remained on a two-stopper.

Two stops proved the right way and Verstappen went on to win, with Ricciardo a distraught fourth.

Now, this is not wishing to detract from Verstappen’s driving. Making his tyres last, while under pressure from Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari, was an exceptional effort.

But it was not won on raw pace, and Ricciardo has now for the two weekends they have been teammates since Verstappen replaced Daniil Kvyat had the edge on speed.

It is early days for Verstappen, and while Toro Rosso is part of the Red Bull family, the RB12 chassis is a very different one to the STR11, and the fact he did so well immediately in Spain is to his credit.

But Verstappen has come to Red Bull to beat Ricciardo, and in a straight fight, either in qualifying or in a race, he is yet to do that.

Canada will be important as he too will have the new Renault engine, and he will have the same machinery at his disposal as Ricciardo. There are still 15 races of the season to go, but both men are seeking to be the one in the ascendancy in the Red Bull team.

Regulation changes for next year, designed to make the cars faster by changing the aerodynamics, could make Red Bull a championship contender again and with it, offer a great opportunity to be champion for both drivers, so any edge one can hold over the other could be crucial.

Verstappen had a rough weekend in Monaco while his teammate had an excellent one, even if the final result was disappointing.

The Dutchman must look to get one over on Ricciardo in Montreal to prove that he is a match for him.

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