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Max Verstappen has admitted that Monaco Grand Prix qualifying gave him the rare feeling of driving a Formula 1 car on his own terms again — a sensation he has struggled to find throughout the 2026 season under the sport's new powertrain regulations.
The Dutchman has been among the most vocal critics of the 2026 power unit rules, which impose a 53-47 split between the internal combustion engine and electrical components. That balance places a significantly heavier burden on battery management, with certain circuits making energy harvesting across a lap extremely difficult. The knock-on effect has been pronounced swings in energy levels between drivers, which — while generating more wheel-to-wheel action and overtaking — has drawn criticism for feeling artificial in nature. Verstappen has previously likened the experience to "Mario Kart", comparing the boost and overtake modes to the mushroom speed boost from the Nintendo arcade game. He has also backed the FIA to 'make the right call' on the power unit split, signalling his desire for a more natural driving environment.
Monaco, however, proved different. The abundance of low-speed corners allows cars to charge the battery with ease throughout the lap, effectively eliminating the need for active energy management. For Verstappen, that translated into a fundamentally more organic and instinctive driving experience.
"I think the chassis regulation is not bad at all," he said. "I quite like now the vision on the front axle is a bit better around apexes again, instead of that thing we had above the tyre before. If you can go flat out and you can just select the gears that you want to use in the corners, it's always going to be better. So, I finally felt just myself again in the car, let's say like that, with the way you want to use the gears. Unfortunately, of course we can't do that in too many places on the calendar, but that's what makes it more and more natural to drive."
The recovery Verstappen produced in qualifying was all the more remarkable given the alarm bells that rang during FP3. Red Bull had found themselves nine tenths off the pace in the morning session, with the car's well-documented weaknesses over bumps and kerbs — particularly through Monaco's technical middle sector — appearing to signal a difficult afternoon ahead.
It had already been flagged heading into the weekend that Red Bull might struggle in Sector 2, and so it proved. Kimi Antonelli's superior pace through the middle sector, despite being slower there than Lewis Hamilton's best, proved to be the decisive margin that sealed pole position for the young Mercedes driver. Verstappen was the quickest man in Q3 through Sectors 1 and 3, but it was not enough.
"Quite [surprised] after this morning, we were like nine tenths off. I was confident that we would make some improvements heading into qualifying but, yeah, not to fight for pole," Verstappen explained. "Honestly, when I jumped into the car I was like, 'okay, let's try and recover a bit, maybe top five'. That was the target."
From early in the session, however, the car responded. Despite the lingering deficit through the bumpy middle section, Verstappen found himself genuinely competitive — and ended the day on the front row, a result he would have taken without hesitation after the morning's difficulties.
"It's been a very good turnaround. Yes, I was quite happy — this morning really not happy, and now I'm fairly happy again. This was, of course, the most important session of the weekend. Tomorrow there's still a start which this year seems a little bit more critical to get right compared to other years, so that's still something we have to look at. But overall for us, this has been a very positive weekend."
He’s a software engineer with a deep passion for Formula 1 and motorsport. He co-founded Formula Live Pulse to make live telemetry and race insights accessible, visual, and easy to follow.
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