Jolyon Palmer is deeply impressed by the final sector that Max Verstappen managed to squeeze out during the Monaco Grand Prix. The Brit witnessed how the two-time world champion fell more than two tenths short of Fernando Alonso after the first two sectors, but with what Palmer considers the best sector ever driven in Monaco, Verstappen managed to snatch the pole position from Aston Martin's grasp.
Palmer states in his analysis that the closer you get to the walls, the faster you go. You simply make the track wider, allowing you to carry more speed. "And that's exactly what Max does," the Brit explains on Formula1.com. "So beautiful, and with so much dedication in this final sector. I have to say, this is the best sector I've ever seen in Monaco, maybe even the best in a Formula 1 qualifying session, that's how good it is."
Palmer observed how Alonso drove like a beast, as the Spaniard himself described it, but noticed that Verstappen pushed the limits in that final sector. "Look how Verstappen is right up against the wall here," the analyst shows, while displaying the differences between Alonso and the Dutch driver as they come out of Tabac corner. "Verstappen's front right tire is right against the wall, and Fernando is close, but there's a small difference between the two. And this is how it is everywhere," says Palmer, who then shows a few more examples, expressing the same amazement at how close Verstappen gets to the wall.
However, Palmer still spotted a tiny mistake in the Dutch driver's final sector. "Here's the small mistake he makes," the Brit explains as he shows the footage of Verstappen brushing the wall on the straight before the start-finish line. "He hits the wall there on the exit (of the final corner, red), which was a bit unnecessary, and probably cost him a little bit," says the analyst, who observed that the two-time world champion didn't hit the wall hard enough to cause any significant trouble.
"The rest is simply breathtaking, and that's how you do a final sector. It deserved the pole position. I've never seen anything like it, and I've witnessed quite a few amazing pole laps. It's fair to say that he let it slip a bit in the first two sectors, but it was definitely the best sector I've seen on this circuit," concludes Palmer, who saw how this broke Aston Martin's hearts.