What made Max Verstappen ‘feel like myself again’ in F1 Monaco GP qualifying

Max Verstappen says he “finally felt like myself again” due to the nature of Formula 1 qualifying at the Monaco Grand Prix enabling him to push flat-out.

Four-time world champion Verstappen has repeatedly lamented the engine regulations introduced in F1 2026 as being against everything that comes naturally to him as a racing driver, having been particularly irked by the amount of energy management required during qualifying laps.

But with Monaco’s tight and twisty Monte Carlo Street Circuit placing less emphasis on power and the need to recharge, drivers enjoyed being able to push the closest to flat-out in qualifying so far this season.

Verstappen, who has threatened to quit F1 at the end of the season if proposed changes for 2027 do not go ahead, believes the new chassis regulations are a step in the right direction.

"I think the chassis regulation is not bad at all, so I think in general with the cars being a little bit more narrow, I think it was alright," the Red Bull driver 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 [wheel deflector].

"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 that makes it more and more natural to drive.”

Verstappen was denied a surprise pole position by just 0.043 seconds as Andrea Kimi Antonelli snatched his fourth pole of the year with a last-gasp effort in Q3.

Despite narrowly being beaten to pole, Verstappen heaped praise on Red Bull for an impressive turnaround after a difficult start to the weekend on Friday.

"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," the Dutchman 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, but I'd say from quite early on in qualifying, the car felt a bit better.

"We still have our little problems and especially in the middle sector that's where we lose the most, you have a few curbs that you have to take and there are a few bumps, or ride stuff on the track that is just a little bit more complicated at the moment for our car.

"But I still think that, overall, we had a very good qualifying. We were up there, we were fighting for pole, so even if you would have told me after yesterday where we looked quite okay to be starting on the front row, I would have immediately taken it.

"It's been a very good turnaround. Yes, I was quite happy, this morning really not happy and now I'm fairly happy again. So that's, of course, good when it matters, you know.

"This was, of course, the most important session of the weekend. Of course, tomorrow there's still a start which this year seems a little bit more critical to get right compared to other years where it was not such a big deal, I would say. So that's still something that we have to look at but, yeah, overall for us this has been a very positive weekend."