Even Verstappen enjoys racing in Monaco: 'It's the adrenaline rush'

F1 News

max verstappen enjoys racing in monaco that gives a kick
24 May at 07:00
1
  • Ludo van Denderen

It is by no means a secret: Max Verstappen is not a fan of street circuits. The Red Bull Racing driver would much rather race on old-school tracks like Spa, Suzuka or, a week ago, Imola. Still, the Dutchman has warm feelings about the Monaco Grand Prix, through the streets of his hometown.

The Monte Carlo race is more than an F1 race. It is the glitz and glamour, the seeing and being seen, and, above all, the flaunting of enormous wealth. For Verstappen and his colleagues, however, the next few days are about the racing. Winning in Monaco is every driver's dream, because yes; Monaco is and remains Monaco. Even Verstappen - so not a fan of this kind of circuit - sees the charm of racing in the principality on the Mediterranean.

"I do think, compared to any other street circuit, because it's so narrow, yes," says Verstappen, when asked if Monaco has something extra after all? "I find it's even more challenging, and especially in qualifying, you can feel your heart rate, just the adrenaline rush you get around here. You don't really get that on any other. It's something else. I'm not a fan of street circuits, but in qualifying here, the attention to detail is crazy. That definitely makes it very special."

The pressure is off for Verstappen

Verstappen has already won twice in Monaco. "I do think that, up until the point I did win here, the pressure of wanting to win Monaco was always very high, and you really wanted to show off, but I feel like that's a bit different now. You're probably a bit more relaxed. Of course, in qualifying, you go for it, but I approach it more as just another weekend where I would like to win, but it's very important to just score points and not do anything silly," Verstappen said.

This article was written in collaboration with Olly Darcy