Max Verstappen goes to Monaco on the back of taking his second win of the season at the 2025 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix for the Red Bull ace’s fourth straight win at Imola.
Ferrari’s backyard has been the Dutchman’s playground in recent campaigns, with just Lewis Hamilton when Formula 1 returned to Imola in 2020 able to stop Verstappen winning at the Emilia Romagna GP. His four in a row might even never be beaten as Imola’s contract is over.
The streets of Monte Carlo have not been as rewarding, with the Red Bull driver winning the Monaco GP in 2021 and 2023. Verstappen will hope to add to his run of winning in alternate visits to the Principality, but has not made the podium in back-to-back Grands Prix this term.
Red Bull’s motorsport adviser Helmut Marko is also sure about a reason why the Monaco GP could be ‘much worse’ for the Milton Keynes team, despite Verstappen passing Oscar Piastri to win the Emilia Romagna GP as their upgrades used at Imola worked to improve the RB21.
Helmut Marko fears Monaco could be ‘much worse’ for Max Verstappen than Imola due to slow-speed corners
Red Bull’s upgrades at Imola removed the understeer Verstappen hated through the first six rounds of the 2025 F1 season. They added to the new floor fitted to his RB21 in Miami with modified sidepods, a rear wishbone and brake vents to try to slash their deficit to McLaren.
READ MORE: Seven unforgettable Monaco Grand Prix moments, including Ayrton Senna vs Nigel Mansell and Michael Schumacher’s controversy
Their upgrades at Imola also helped Red Bull to manage their tyre temperatures. But Marko believes the Monaco GP might be more of a challenge for Red Bull and Verstappen than the Emilia Romagna GP as the car does not excel in slow-speed corners like it can at high speed.
Marko has told OE24: “The car is now doing what Max wants again. That’s thanks to the updates, which, thank God, worked. [But] that was just Imola.
“Things could look completely different at the next Grand Prix. [Monaco is] a completely different track with only slow corners. Things could go much worse there.”
Max Verstappen flipped a 40s deficit to Oscar Piastri in Miami to win at Imola due to the change in circuit types
Verstappen’s best results so far this year have largely come at tracks with at least a large per cent of high-speed corners, except the season-opening Australian Grand Prix when he came P2 in mixed conditions. The Dutchman also won in Japan and he secured P2 in Saudi Arabia.
READ MORE: Red Bull driver Max Verstappen’s life outside F1 from net worth to girlfriend
Yet after Timo Glock feared Red Bull would encounter the ‘most problems’ of F1’s top teams in Miami due to the circuit’s large quantity of slow-speed turns, Verstappen could only come P4 in the race after being undercut for P3 by George Russell and was 39.956s from the lead.
It was largely down to the change in circuit configurations between the Miami International Autodrome set in the car parks of Hard Rock Stadium and Imola that Verstappen flipped his deficit to Piastri in Miami into winning at Imola without much pressure after taking the lead.
