Having overcome the RB21’s understeer issues in final practice, Red Bull went into qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix chasing a front row grid slot.

Instead, Max Verstappen will line up P4 for the Monte Carlo street race, and Helmut Marko admits they “don’t know exactly” why he was struggling for grip.

Red Bull perplexed by Max Verstappen’s qualy woes

Having completed third practice, the final hour of running before qualifying, with the second fastest time, pundits applauded Red Bull’s ability to bounce back from a trying Friday when it mattered most.

However, they weren’t able to carry that performance into qualifying.

Although Verstappen appeared to be there and thereabout, trading blows with the McLaren team-mates and Charles Leclerc in the early sessions, when it really counted – Q3 – he was sliding all over the place and struggling over the kerbs.

“It’s just Turn One again! This corner’s like… The front right is not there, and the rest… I mean, it’s just trying to find the limits mate, I’m limited with the mechanical grip,” he told Red Bull over the radio.

He later complained: “There is just no more grip.”

He set the fifth fastest time, over seven-tenths down on pole-sitter Lando Norris.

The four-time World Champion told the media, including PlanetF1.com, that fighting for pole position was “absolutely not” possible.

“I think already in FP3, we had some limitations,” he continued. “But then in qualifying, I think it was quite clear that sector two was just very poor.

“We just couldn’t ride the kerbs and all the compressions. They were just not, yeah, not really good for us.”

“We’re just weak in low speed,” he lamented. “And then also where you have to take kerbs and where the camber drops away from you, that’s what our car doesn’t like. It’s never liked it, and still doesn’t like it.”

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But having been buoyed by Verstappen’s pace in FP3, Red Bull were left confused by the drop-off in qualifying.

“We don’t know exactly ourselves,” Marko admitted to Sky Deutschland.

“We just didn’t have the necessary grip at the crucial moment. The car started sliding more and more, especially in the last sector. After the third practice, we were actually hoping for the front row or third place.

“However, the gap was obvious.”

“Clearly, we couldn’t have achieved these times,” he added, calling it “impossible”

The 27-year-old will line up fourth on the grid, elevated one position after Lewis Hamilton was penalised for impeding Verstappen during qualifying, falling from fourth to seventh.

But even though Marko called gaining that one position “good”, he concedes: “Our speed just isn’t there.

“Let’s see how the race goes, whether Norris really pushes or just cruises. Everything is possible here.”

And it’s been made even more possible by Formula 1’s mandatory two-stop strategy, all the drivers having to pit at least twice in Sunday’s 78-lap race.

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