Over the first four races of 2021, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen has been, championship leader, Lewis Hamilton’s closest rival. Hamilton currently has the upper hand in this rivalry with three wins to Max’s one. In all the races that Max has failed to win, one of the factors that went against him was the fact that he was alone in the fight against the Mercedes cars. This has given Mercedes the upper hand as Max’s teammate Sergio Perez hasn’t been able to provide the strategic backup Red Bull needs to negate Mercedes’ aggressive strategy calls. After the same thing happened in Spain, Verstappen has now reflected on this predicament Link to poll: https://www.youtube.com/post/Ugw61LrS__nYGVwWmcd4AaABCQ 0:00 - Max Verstappen Rues Lack Of Support 1:53 - Fast Feed I'm your host Dillon Shelley and first up on Formula World: Max Verstappen Rues Lack Of Support Max began by explaining why he isn’t too disappointed with second place in Spain “I tried everything I could today and took the lead at Turn 1 but from there we were just lacking a bit of pace to Mercedes. Of course, we wanted to win but I cannot feel too disappointed as I did everything I could out there and maximized the opportunities” He then suggested how a different strategy wouldn’t have made much of a difference “Even if we had looked at another strategy and done a two-stop and pitted before them, we wouldn’t have made the time up as they were just faster than us” He then analyzed Mercedes’ strategy call “I know how fast I can go and where the limit of the car is and when they can do a free stop behind it is easy for them to do a different strategy. I pretty much knew that when he pitted for the second time that he would come back at me on the new tyres a bit like Hungary 2019” He further elaborated on how him being alone in this fight makes things easier for Mercedes “Although I did everything I could I was a bit of a sitting duck. I'm also just alone in this fight. They can easily make a second stop because there's a gap behind them. Of course, that doesn't help either” He reiterated this to conclude his thoughts “Then at least they can't make that second stop and then it's just towards the end who has the best tyres left. It's like that though” Fast Feed Lewis Hamilton has pointed out that he “was following” Max Verstappen relatively closely in Spain As such, he learnt “a lot about his car and how he uses it, so it was a good race in that respect” Red Bull’s Sergio Perez feels that he’s “getting more confident with the car now and every time” he gets “to the end of a weekend”, he wishes that “the weekend was just starting” He added that “every circuit is different so what” he learns “here will be different to what” he needs “in Monaco but the main thing is that” he’s “still adapting and hopefully soon” he “can be 100%” He is also “excited for Monaco, especially with this car as historically it’s been competitive and” he thinks they “have a chance of winning” Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has stated that the “full focus” is “on Monaco now and continuing work back at the factory to find more performance and catch up to Mercedes” Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc is “really happy” after Spain “because from the cockpit you can feel when you do a good job” His team principal Mattia Binotto feels that “there’s still a lot of work to do to get the Scuderia back to where it should be” However, he’s “pleased to see that the whole team, both at the track and Maranello, is clearly keen to improve” For McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo, Spain was “the best weekend so far as a whole and” he felt like he “got the maximum out of the car” AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly is “upset with” himself “for making the mistake on the grid” where he failed to position his car correctly for the race start which earned him a penalty Aston Martin team principal Otmar Szafnauer has pointed out that they “frustratingly” and “narrowly failed to score points” in Spain His driver Sebastian Vettel has suggested that “the new parts” they had in Spain “helped, and” they “need to keep taking steps forward each weekend” Haas driver Nikita Mazepin is under the impression that he had “quite a clean race from” his side in Spain. “No big mistakes, and pretty consistent driving” He, however, added that “there’s a lot to be learned” and that “it’s every rookie’s job to keep learning in every race” Pirelli F1 Boss Mario Isola pointed out that Spain featured “an intense strategic battle, so it's perhaps surprising that in the end the top four finished exactly as they started on the grid” Who will be the team to beat in Monaco?