Red Bull’s Max Verstappen believes that the Monaco Grand Prix is near enough irreplaceable as it continues to face the threat of being axed ahead of next season.
The influx of new venues and races has been brought about by the global success of the Netflix Drive to Survive docuseries, and Formula 1 has now laid out plans to further exploit the American market, as well as bringing about a resurgence of races in China and South Africa.
A Caribbean Grand Prix in Colombia has also been touted in recent weeks and, while the new adventure F1 is undertaking seems very exciting, it puts a lot of the sport’s foundations at risk.
Circuits like Silverstone, Monza, Spa and Monaco are a huge part of the reason many of us became fans of the sport, but the latter two are out of contract this year, so are faced with extinction from the calendar.
These are two races that Verstappen does not want to let go, having treated the Belgian Grand Prix as his home race before the reintroduction of the Dutch Grand Prix last year.
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“Monaco has all the history and probably it will be hard to replace that one, but for me also Spa is an amazing track,” he told Sky Sports in a Q&A session.
“It’s not up to me, right? But I hope, I wish that they will stay on.”
The reigning champion also highlighted the event in Monte Carlo as the toughest race due to the perennial proximity to the barriers and the unbelievable level of consistency and focus needed to put 78 laps together there.
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“I think probably Monaco,” added Verstappen.
“Just because you cannot make a mistake, if you lock up a tiny bit in the wrong place at the wrong time, you are in the wall, so I think probably Monaco.”
Verstappen would also be intrigued to see how he would get on racing against his father Jos in his prime.
“The only thing I’m really curious about is actually to face my own dad in his prime because I don’t know, so I actually would like to see that, to see the differences between us,” he explained.
Jos finished on the podium twice in a career that saw him race for Benetton, Tyrell and Arrows, and would surely leap at the chance to stand on the top step in a dream scenario.
“I think from both sides that would be the target because that is what he told me already from when I started racing, he wanted me to be the better driver,” stated Max.
Max’s championship success in 2021 was the first drivers’ title ever won by a Dutchman in the pinnacle of motorsport.