Verstappen: We were almost doing Mario Kart

Monaco is dubbed the crown jewel of Formula 1, but with cars growing in size over the years, the principality has not delivered an exciting race for some time now, and the latest attempt by the sport to spice up the show by mandating two pitstops proved unfruitful this Sunday.

Only the top four pushed to build gaps to allow them to take safe pitstops while further down the grid it was all about drivers backing rivals to create gaps for their teammates to pit safely.

Verstappen started the race from fourth on the grid, and after a half-hearted attempt on Oscar Piastri's third place did not succeed, he finished where he started as Red Bull kept him out until the penultimate lap before doing his second mandatory stop, hoping for Red Flag or a Safety Car.

"You can't race here," Verstappen vented after the race. "It doesn't matter what you do. One stop, 10 stops. Even at the end, I was in the lead, my tyres were completely gone and you still can't pass.

"Nowadays with an F1 car, you can just pass an F2 car around here. I get it but I don't think it's worked," he added, referring to the huge speed delta required to make a pass stick around Monaco.

"We were almost doing Mario Kart. Then we have to install bits on the car and maybe you can throw bananas around! Slippery surface," the Dutchman joked.

Speaking later in Red Bull Racing's race report, Verstappen said: "It wasn't the most exciting race for me today. At the end we stayed out waiting as I had a huge gap behind me, so was free to do what we wanted with our final pit stop.

"We had nothing to lose; the tyres were quite old and we couldn't push so much but we had a big gap behind. We just kept at it to see if we got lucky with the safety car or a red flag. We did everything right and there wasn't much more we could have done to change the result.

"Overall, the two stop format didn't change much for me," he went on. "It is a lottery about what is going to happen in the race as it is impossible to overtake here. You don't push the car to the limit as you can't pass the car, so we didn't learn too much from the car today.

"It was not the most exciting race and I felt pretty neutral. This is not our track, it's as simple as that and it is just not made for our car.

"In Barcelona we should be able to race more, so we will see what happens in the final race of the triple header," the four-time Formula 1 champion concluded.

Verstappen left Monaco still third in the 2025 Formula 1 drivers' championship, which Piastri still leads from teammate Lando Norris by only three points.

The Dutchman is 25 points behind the Australian.

(Quotes from Sky Sports F1)