Verstappen: I knew we weren't fighting for pole position.

      Max Verstappen finished fifth in qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix, losing seven tenths of a second to the pole holder. The Red Bull Racing driver explained this lag by the insufficient efficiency of the car in the slow turns of the second sector.

      Commenting on the blocking by Lewis Hamilton, Max suggested that the Ferrari driver would be fined.

      Yuki Tsunoda showed the twelfth time and finished the fight in the second session.

      Max Verstappen (5th): "I was mostly losing speed in the second sector. In slow corners, you need good mechanical traction, but we don't have it. Compared to the training session, I didn't manage to go faster. Every time I hit the curb or unloaded the wheel in the hairpin, there was no clutch. As soon as the lap times started to improve during qualifying, I realized that we were not competing for pole position.

      It didn't really surprise me, because our car is not very good at slow turns. There is a very tight battle between different cars in qualifying this year. If the car doesn't have enough balance in such corners, then you just don't participate in the fight.

      The Lewis incident? It's not pleasant to be blocked at high speed. Now I know that the team told him that I was driving slowly, even though I was driving fast. It's not Lewis' fault.

      After qualifying, I had a few words with him. It's simple – it's a team mistake. They usually get fined for this, but in this case, the team made a mistake. However, the stewards in the qualifications are very strict about these things."

      Yuki Tsunoda (12th): "The problem is not the last attempt – difficulties arose at the very beginning of the second part of qualifying. I do not know what happened, but I could not neutralize the impact of this problem.

      In the race, I will try to do everything in my power to earn points. It's difficult to overtake in Monaco, but we'll see what happens."