Verstappen fears the issue "won't be a quick fix", while Perez hails Ferrari's pace

Reigning world champion Max Verstappen sounded a rather pessimistic note after the opening practice day at the Monaco Grand Prix, stating that his team's issues will not be easy to fix overnight.

Max Verstappen endured a similar start to his weekend to Imola just a week ago, struggling for the optimal balance. The Dutchman ended the second practice in P4, half a second off pace-setter Charles Leclerc.

The reigning champion complained about mechanical bouncing , suggesting that his RB20 could not cope with the severe bumps of the Monaco street track.

Although the three-time world champion indicated that the issues might be not as easy to fix as in Imola, the top speeds suggested that Red Bull were running a significantly lower engine mode today again which would partly explain the lack of speed.

"It was pretty difficult but we knew coming into the race this weekend that this might be the case. There was a lot of bounce and temperature changes on track, which also made it tricky.

"Every time that we went over a bump, the car lost a lot of lap time and on this track one small jump could result in you ending up against the wall.

"We are looking into a solution ahead of the weekend to sort this out. In general, the issue is a bit more difficult to solve in set up and it won’t be a quick fix but we are going to work on it overnight; we don’t expect miracles but are still looking ahead to tomorrow.

Speaking of the competion, the Dutchman said: "Ferrari are also looking quick but I am not thinking about that ahead of tomorrow. Overnight we are going to review the issues that we have and we will hopefully improve the drive of the car ahead of qualifying.”

His team-mate Sergio Perez had a similarly tough day behind the wheel of his RB20. However, the Mexican is hopeful that Red Bull can achieve a turnaround in form as they have been experimenting with a raft of setup solutions today.

“It is going to be tough this weekend, we are finding it hard to get away from our limitations at the moment. We will see what we are able to come up with tonight, we ran a slightly different set-up on each car and I don’t know what the issues were for Max until we debrief.

"There are plenty of things to look at, the long run pace seems to be in a better place, but we will have to wait and see how we perform tomorrow.

"Ferrari look really strong and whenever they need the lap, it has seemed really quick and easy. It is a benefit to them and they aren’t struggling with their tyres either.

"We have a few items we need to be able to improve overnight and then hopefully it can put us back in the fight and we can be closer to the top," said the Mexican.