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Max Verstappen’s 2026 Monaco Grand Prix lasted less than a single lap, but F1 pundit Christijan Albers believes the four-time world champion still managed to showcase ‘the beauty’ of the sport with his performance over the course of the weekend.
Following Kimi Antonelli’s snatching of pole position from Max Verstappen’s grasp in the final laps of qualifying, the beginning of Sunday’s Grand Prix promised fireworks with both drivers lining up alongside each other.
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Photo by Mark Sutton – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images
However, it wasn’t meant to be, with the Red Bull ace suffering a power unit-related issue as the lights dropped to signal the start of the race. As the rest of the grid roared past him into turn one, Verstappen was forced to trundle back into the pits and out of the race.
Still, it was an encouraging weekend for the Austrian constructor, with Isack Hadjar managing to steal P3 from Pierre Gasly after the chequered flag. The Alpine driver was one of many drivers who were given penalties for speeding in the pit lane.
On top of Hadjar’s maiden podium for the Milton Keynes-based crew, Verstappen’s P2 in qualifying also matched his season-best result over one lap from the Miami Grand Prix. It also came after a difficult FP3 session that saw the RB22 lacking pace compared to its rivals.
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Christijan Albers says Max Verstappen showcased ‘the beauty’ of F1 with surprising qualifying pace
The Dutchman ended the final Free Practice session of the weekend with the fifth fastest lap on the timing sheets, nearly a whole second off the benchmark that Antonelli had laid down earlier on in the afternoon.
During the first two practice sessions, Verstappen was a lot closer to the front. He ended FP1 and FP2 with the third fastest times, with Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton taking turns to lead a Ferrari one-two in them.
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However, the four-time world champion managed to flex his skillset once the high-pressure sessions began, and was very much on course for pole position until Antonelli found something extra in his final attempt.
“That’s always the beauty of Formula 1,” F1 pundit Christijan Albers said on De Telegraaf’s F1 podcast. “So many factors play a major role there, too – it’s all about track time.
“In the final minute, the last few seconds, you always have more grip than at the start of the session, because the rubber builds up. What’s the tyre temperature? What’s the asphalt temperature? One car performs better than the other.
“That’s why those Mercedes cars came back to life throughout Saturday, because if you compare, for example, Friday was pretty cool. On Saturday, it got much warmer again; it was 10 degrees warmer, the track temperature too.
“Then suddenly you get cars that weren’t there before. They come back to life because they’ve built up a bit more grip, and the others are overheating again. So that’s the beauty of Formula 1. You can’t put your finger on it. That’s what’s so great about the sport.
“Designing a car like that; how a car behaves, and how it develops over a weekend like that. That always remains something unique. It’s almost impossible to predict unless you can build a car that’s completely dominant. We saw that with Verstappen, of course, for a while.”
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