After finding himself back on the Red Bull naughty step on Saturday, Max Verstappen admitted he opted for a cautious approach at the Monaco Grand Prix.
Verstappen ruined his entire weekend ahead of qualifying, crashing out of final practice, which meant he was unable to post a time. That led to stern words of warning from Red Bull boss Christian Horner, who said his recent string of mistakes has to end, and motorsport chief Helmut Marko, who said the Dutchman had to stop being so "impatient" when inside the cockpit.
Perhaps with those words ringing in his ears, Verstappen looked noticeably restrained around the tight streets of Monaco. He turned in a recovery drive from 20th to ninth, which he thinks was as good as he could do with his newly-adopted mindset.
"I was enjoying myself out there," he said. "Starting last I got two places from the start which was good."
"I just didn't want to go to risky and have a crash. I cannot be in that position now. I did everything with a certain margin. I knew if I had taken a bit more risk then I still wouldn't have got past them."
For the second time this year, Verstappen will be wondering what might have been after watching Red Bull teammate Daniel Ricciardo win the race. In China, he squandered a golden opportunity to win when he made clumsy overtaking attempts on Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel, allowing Ricciardo to get past him and utilise Red Bull's late switch to fresh tyres and win the race.
"I think we maximised the result. At the end there was a bit of train from P4 to P9," Verstappen said. "I don't think there was anything more we could have done from last."