Windsor sees advantage Red Bull: 'That McLaren got away with this says a lot'

In his analysis, Windsor actually leaves out Ferrari' s strong performance a bit. McLaren in particular performed well according to him. He even compares the car to the Red Bull of previous years. ''McLaren really good in sector 2 which is all about traction. Obviously turning as well but the traction is really paramount in sector 2 and that was what was killing Red Bull, and McLaren much, much better. One of the cars with a pretty good top speed on other circuits, but still with great traction, almost doing what Red Bull used to do in terms of being able to manipulate all of the different parameters around the car.''

'This is unusual for Mr.Manipulation'

The British journalist analyses Verstappen's entire qualifying situation. ''It’s very unusual to hear Max say that Mr. Manipulation, getting the car nice and flat and rotating it when he feels the perfect moment. But he was right up against a brick wall in terms of what he could do. Consistently, he was super, super quick in sector
one. And indeed, in Q3, he was quickest by 0.2, which is a massive amount, just in one sector alone, all about high speed into the casino square area. But then when it came down to a little bit of turning to traction, slow corner stuff, Red Bull, very, very difficult. Max unable to do anything about that."

''So when he went into his last run, an attempt to get the pole, quite obviously, the only place where he felt he could make up time was breaking late into Sainte-Dévote, which is always, always a trap. It’s negative camber going in there. It’s shade as well from the trees in the building. So the track temperature is slightly different on that bit of road where you’re breaking into Sandovote. And it caught out the great Max Verstappen. I was quite surprised that was where he chose to try to find a little bit more time, because in my view, it was never going to happen. Sector one, he’d already got nailed. All he needs to do is find time in sector two, somehow, sector three, as they were saying to him on the radio." 

Windsor says McLaren is not yet at Red Bull's level. The Red Bull has a high top speed, making it a bit slower through the tight corners. "I think the fact that McLaren got away with it is an indication that McLaren is still not quite as quick if you like as Red Bull in a straight line,'' he said. In Canada and Spain, the Briton expects the Austrian racing stable to be faster than in Monaco.

This article was written in collaboration with Sophia Crothall.