Red Bull take points but no podiums at Monaco Grand Prix

Red Bull settled for a single points finish at the Monaco Grand Prix as Max Verstappen finished fourth and Yuki Tsunoda finished outside the points.

The Milton Keynes-based team were unable to pick up a third win in four visits to the principality, with Verstappen finishing where he had qualified despite staying out late in hope for a red flag or safety car that never came.

Tsunoda meanwhile would get stuck in traffic in a race where multiple teams manipulated the mandatory two-stop requirement to have cars going slowly, with the Japanese driver finishing 17th and two laps down on race winner Lando Norris.

With a third of the season gone, Verstappen has 136 points. He is 25 points behind championship winner Oscar Piastri and 22 behind Monaco winner Norris, while he is also 37 clear of fourth placed man George Russell. Teammate Tsunoda sits 13th in the championship, having collected 10 points so far this season.

Red Bull sit third in the Constructors’ Championship, with the Milton Keynes-based team being 176 points behind early leaders McLaren, four points behind second placed Mercedes and just one ahead of fourth place Ferrari.

With the Monaco Grand Prix running as a mandatory two stop to try and mix things up, many approached the race curious as to how it would pan out.

Verstappen would start fourth, having qualified fifth but gained a place due to a grid penalty for Lewis Hamilton, while Tsunoda started from 12th.

While Verstappen maintained position in the early stages, Tsunoda was one of a few drivers to gamble on making his first pit stop at the end of lap one. This came under a virtual safety car, which was deployed after debris was left on track when Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto hit the wall, although the Brazilian was able to continue.

Tsunoda would then get involved in a notable incident on lap 8. When approaching the chicane after the tunnel, he was hit from behind by Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, with Tsunoda’s former Alpha Tauri teammate suffering extensive damage and retiring from the race. Tsunoda was however able to continue.

Verstappen pitted on lap 29, having run long into the race after starting on hard tyres compared to others, but returned behind Norris, Charles Leclerc and Piastri, who had all pit early.

The reigning world champion opted to try to go long after his first stop in hopes of a safety car or red flag to neutralise the race, with the Dutchman still running in the final laps just ahead of Norris and Leclerc, who were pushing hard.

With nothing coming, however, Verstappen came in at the start of the final lap to fulfil the mandatory requirement for a pit-stop, before popping back out for his last lap to take the flag fourth in a large gap between Piastri in 3rd and 5th place Hamilton.

Tsunoda’s strategy ended up being skewed by events ahead, with both Red Bull’s junior team Racing Bulls and Williams running strategies where their drivers went slow to help out their team-mates. This left the second Red Bull stuck in heavy traffic alongside Mercedes and Sauber runners.

He would also abandon his hope of a safety car in the end, pulling off to make his second stop late on and finishing well outside the points.

Red Bull will seek to return next weekend, when the third part of F1’s triple header takes the grid to Barcelona for the Spanish Grand Prix.