‘Monaco was turning point for Verstappen’

Max Verstappen’s Monaco Grand Prix practice crash was the turning point in his season; that’s according to team boss Christian Horner.

Verstappen came in for a great deal of criticism when he crashed in practice at the Monte Carlo street circuit.

Not only was the accident similar to his 2017 Monaco crash but it was his sixth incident in as many races.

Since that weekend, though, the Dutchman has been on a charge.

He has outscored his team-mate Daniel Ricciardo to move ahead of him in the standings and claimed five podiums including the Austrian GP win.

“Really since after the Monaco Grand Prix,” Horner told Sky F1 when asked about Verstappen’s improved form.

“That hurt him quite badly because he’s obviously extremely quick in Monaco – right up until the point he crashed!

“That was a tough outcome for him and since that point he has driven incredibly well.”

The Dutchman put in arguably his best drive of this season in Russia as he raced from 19th on the grid to fifth by lap eight.

He led the most laps but fell back to P5 after his pit stop.

“If you look at his season, it’s been very, very strong,” added Horner.

“He’s driven some great races and he’s maturing and got quite a reasonable amount of experience now.

“He’s performing at an incredibly high level, you can see that in the barometer with his team-mate. They are two very competitive guys and he’s driving extremely well.”

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