Max Verstappen's hopes for his first win of 2026 evaporated in an instant at the start of the Monaco Grand Prix when he stalled on the grid.
Verstappen had qualified second behind Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli, with the Ferrari drivers behind, in what had promised to be a tense run down to Turn 1.
But Verstappen's Red Bull failed to get away when the start lights went out.
On his radio immediately afterward, he said: "Nice. Completely f-----, guys. What the f---."
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Verstappen did get the car moving once the whole pack had moved past him, and asked Red Bull: "What should I do?"
Race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase said, "Just bring it home please, Max."
Verstappen returned to the pit lane and retired at the end of the first lap.
The four-time world champion said the problems were clear before the race had even started.
"Already the formation lap was not going very well," he later explained to Sky Sports. "After that, the pre-start was terrible, there was no consistency. Then the engine just dropped dead. I only got a little bit of power back after the first corner. Engine sounded really awful so ... yeah, I could not go full throttle, so we brought it back. And yeah, that was it."
Verstappen and Red Bull have had a tricky start to the season with the company's brand-new, purpose-built F1 engine, designed in conjunction with Ford.
The Dutchman told the media later: "If I would be leading the championship, then of course it's a very, very painful one. Like this, less painful, but it's still really annoying and disappointing for everyone.
"Of course, we know everyone wants to finish every single race, but yeah, like this, I just hope that we understand quickly what it is and that we can fix it also for the future."
There had been more recent signs of encouragement, with a podium in Canada followed up with Saturday's qualifying performance in Monaco.
When asked whether he can go to the Spanish Grand Prix next week in good spirits, he said: "Completely different track, so will be a good place to see if we really made a proper step forward or not, because that's all about high speed and aero performance. So that will be an interesting weekend."