After a difficult first practice session, Verstappen took to the top of the timesheets in FP2.
He pipped Charles Leclerc by just 0.065s late on to set the pace in second practice.
Ferrari are expected to be a serious contender for pole position given their fast tyre warm-up and low-speed corner performance.
Speaking after practice in Monaco, Verstappen was quick to point out how impressive the Ferrari was in terms of “general ride of the car.”
“FP1 was quite tricky. I was not really happy with the ride of the car on the kerbs and the bumps,” he said. “I think FP2 was already a lot better – the car was a lot more competitive but compared to Ferrari especially I think we’re still a bit lacking on the general ride of the car, how it handles the kerbs, the bumps, the drops in camber.
“It’s still something we need to work on for tomorrow because we could see they are very, very close and knowing that once you go onto the limit in qualifying we need a bit more to stay ahead.”
Verstappen has never taken pole position in Monaco during his F1 career.
He qualified second for the 2021 Monaco Grand Prix – which he won – after Leclerc was unable to start the race from pole.
Verstappen believes there’s still “scope” to improve the RB19’s performance.
“I think there’s still a bit of a scope to go in the same direction even more. Hopefully that will be even better for tomorrow.
“The car was driveable at least and that also makes you able to put that lap, to push a bit more, to get closer to the guardrails around here. Overall, not a good start but a good end.”
