Max Verstappen says his Red Bull's engine "just dropped dead" at the start of the Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix as the Dutchman faced an early retirement.

Verstappen and Red Bull defied expectations by challenging for pole at the Monaco street circuit, with the four-time world champion defeating both Ferrari drivers before being pipped to pole by Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli.

But the Dutchman's Sunday afternoon was short-lived as he stalled at the start, swerving out of the way to avoid being collected by the chasing peloton. "Yep, nice. Completely ****. Guys, what the **** man?", a frustrated Verstappen said on the radio.

After getting going again, Verstappen was forced to bring his Red Bull back to the garage for a lap 1 retirement.

Explaining his woes after the race, Verstappen said he already faced engine concerns on the formation lap, so his stalled start didn't come as a complete shock.

"Already the formation lap was not going very well and then after that the pre-start was terrible," Verstappen reported to Sky Sports F1. "There was just no consistency and then the engine just dropped dead. I only got a little bit of power back after the first corner and then the engine sounded really awful. I could not go full throttle, so we brought it back and that was it."

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, Isack Hadjar, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Alex Bierens de Haan / LAT Images via Getty Images

F1 heads across the border to Spain next week for the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, which Verstappen believes will be a much better test of Red Bull's upgrade progress in recent weeks.

"It's a completely different track so it will be a good test to see if we actually really made a proper step forward or not because that's all about high speed and aero performance," he added. "So, that will be an interesting weekend."

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