Verstappen entered Sunday’s race as an outside contender for victory after producing one of his strongest qualifying performances of the season to secure a front-row start alongside Kimi Antonelli.
Problems emerged before the start as Verstappen reported issues on the formation lap before they worsened when the race got underway, as he failed to get away at the start and dropped to the rear of the field.
The Dutchman then limped back to the pits and retired at the end of the opening lap, marking his second retirement of the 2026 season after an earlier DNF in China.
It continues what has been Verstappen’s toughest start to a Formula 1 campaign since 2018.
Six races into the season he remains without a victory for the first time since 2019, while Red Bull is also still searching for its first win of the year.
The team has endured its lowest-scoring opening six races since 2015, with Verstappen’s latest retirement further damaging its championship hopes.
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Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies revealed after the race that the team had already determined the cause of the failure, although he stopped short of disclosing specific details.
“We have identified what the issue is,” Mekies said.
“It developed on the formation lap and it gave him or us no chance. So that’s what it is.
“As you may be aware, it was also the very first PU of Max this season, which was planned to be changed after Monaco.”
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The Monaco failure occurred on Verstappen’s first power unit of the season, which Red Bull had already planned to replace ahead of Barcelona.
Despite the disappointment, Mekies praised Verstappen’s efforts across the weekend after Red Bull unexpectedly emerged as a genuine contender around the streets of Monte Carlo.
“It’s not what we wanted,” Mekies added. “Obviously, we can only apologise to Max because the job he had done with the team to get to that level of pace around Monaco was outstanding.
“Probably early days to discuss what the fix is, but we think we have identified what the issue is.”
Verstappen detailed the problems that unfolded before the start, explaining that warning signs had appeared well before his race came to an abrupt end.
“I think already the formation lap wasn’t particularly great, but then in the pre-start the engine was responding very weird,” Verstappen said.
“Normally at one point you find your RPM target, but the engine basically was not doing that, and when I dropped the clutch it basically dropped dead.
“I only had the battery at one point that helped me go forward, and after that the engine sounded really bad as soon as I had a bit of power back, and I’m sure if I just would have gone flat-out within the lap I would have destroyed it completely so they told me to bring it back slowly.”
The retirement was made even harder to accept given Red Bull’s competitiveness throughout the weekend, with Verstappen believing a podium finish had been within reach.
“After such a nice weekend for us, you’d at least hope to be on the podium,” he acknowledged.
“We of course then retired basically straight away. It’s painful for everyone.
“There’s also no need to be super upset because I think everyone is already really disappointed about it.
“It’s just a shame for everyone. I really hoped that I could do something, or at least make it an exciting race and try to put the pressure on because I really felt good this whole weekend, and now to basically come away with zero points is probably even more painful.”
While Monaco delivered another blow, Verstappen suggested the retirement would have been harder to stomach had he been fighting for the championship lead.
“If I would be leading the championship, then of course it’s a very, very painful one,” he said.
“Like this, it’s less painful, but it’s still really annoying and disappointing for everyone.
“We know of course that everyone wants to finish every single race, but yeah, I just hope that we understand quickly what it is and that we can fix it for the future.”
Red Bull was at least able to salvage a podium through Isack Hadjar in Monaco, marking the first podium for the second Red Bull seat since Sergio Perez at the 2024 Chinese Grand Prix.
Antonelli survives late Monaco drama to claim fifth straight win
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