Pedro De La Rosa has admitted that the stint Max Verstappen did on the medium tyres in Monaco took everyone by surprise.
Speaking on the F1 Nation podcast, De La Rosa was chatting with Alex Wurz and journalist Tom Clarkson.
After an exhilarating qualifying, Max Verstappen started on pole position ahead of Fernando Alonso.
His teammate and nearest rival Sergio Perez crashed out in Q1 and started at the back of the grid.
More frustratingly for the team, he gave the rest of the grid a glimpse of the floor of his car as he was lifted off the track.
Every team will be analysing what they saw and looking to take inspiration from the fastest car on the grid.
Verstappen got away faster than Alonso at the start and managed to stay out until the rain came on lap 54.
De La Rosa has admitted the stint Verstappen did in Monaco on medium tyres to reach that point of the race was extraordinary.
Not only that, he had pulled out a gap on Alonso and maintained it before the chaos began.
Verstappen’s incredible stint on mediums in Monaco
Reviewing the race, De La Rosa said: “I think no one really knew how many laps that the medium tyre or hard tyre could do.
“But one thing that was predicted was that the hard tyre could do more laps than the medium.
“How many laps Max [Verstappen] managed to do with that pace with the grained front left tyre that was amazing, it was incredible and just proves how much pace he had and how much he was managing his tyres.
“I think it was a surprise for everyone how long a stint Max was able to do.”
There appears to be no limit on what Max Verstappen can do in his Red Bull right now.
It’s by far the quickest car on the grid even if Alonso nearly pipped him to pole position on Saturday.
Verstappen demonstrated his dominance in Monaco with a mammoth stint on the softer medium tyres.
It’s hard to see where the weak point is in his armoury at the moment.
He’s already opened up a 39-point gap as he hopes to win his third consecutive Drivers’ Championship.