Verstappen mystified after "very poor" Q3 shootout

Verstappen had been fifth and sixth in Q1 and Q2 respectively, but suddenly lost his car’s balance when it mattered in Q3, and was beaten not only by Red Bull teammate Daniel Ricciardo but also the Williams of Felipe Massa.

“I was actually very poor after Q2,” said Verstappen. “I had two sets [of tyres] in Q3, but I was already complaining in Q2 the last sector I was losing a lot of grip under braking into Turn 13, so I was losing the rear.

“And then you overheat the tyres and everything gets worse and worse. And with the two sets in Q3 it got worse again.

“Normally with less fuel in the car you should do better, but I went slower so that's not the way to go. And that results in this seventh on the grid.”

Ricciardo predicted Williams threat

Ricciardo said the pace of Massa, who was only 0.2s slower than him in Q3, was expected.

“At least before the weekend, I predicted [Williams] to be quick here,” said Ricciardo. “It’s been one of their stronger circuits the last few years, and Massa’s always been pretty handy around here.

“He got close, certainly, and split Max and myself. I expect that battle to remain there tomorrow.

“We’re probably not going to be battling for the win. That’s going to be Ferrari and Mercedes. But we could have a nice little battle between ourselves for a top five."

The Australian added: "Compared to a Williams, obviously I think we have the rear downforce in the car but they have the straight-line speed. But if you’re comparing to Ferrari and Mercedes, unfortunately they’ve got a bit of everything on us.

“Against the Williams, maybe we can be a bit nicer on the tyres. Track position will be pretty important, and it should be a good race between Massa, Verstappen and myself – we all live in the same building in Monaco!

“Maybe they can give the winner their apartment for the weekend, they both have pretty good-sized apartments.”