Verstappen Surprises at Monza: Victory Exceeds Expectations in F1

Max Verstappen’s recent performance at the Italian Grand Prix was “better than expected”, in his own words. This victory represents a “step forward with the car’s behavior”. Verstappen achieved his third victory in Monza, marking the first lights-to-flag victory since Charles Leclerc in 2019 at the Italian circuit. The Red Bull driver temporarily lost the lead on lap 2 to Lando Norris of McLaren. Verstappen was forced to go off the track and concede the position to avoid a penalty. However, after regaining the position on lap 4, his pace was unattainable for the rest of the race, finishing 19 seconds ahead of the McLaren drivers. The Italian Grand Prix, known for being the fastest race in Formula 1, also saw Verstappen set a new lap record in Saturday’s qualifying.

A little better than expected.

Max Verstappen

When asked about the satisfaction of the victory, Verstappen commented: “Once I regained the lead, I focused on my own pace and everything kept working well. I would say that only in the last six or eight laps of that stint did I start to have some difficulties with the medium tire. But until that moment, yes, it was enjoyable for once”.

In addition, he added: “The car did a little more of what I liked. It seems that this weekend has been another step forward with the car’s behavior and that is also noticeable in the race, I think. So that was very positive for us.” “Then, of course, we did a slightly more normal strategy, you know, medium to hard. Of course, McLaren stayed out to try and bet on the safety car, and I think that’s why the difference is a bit bigger than it should have been. But still, for us, an incredible weekend.”

The defending champion arrived at the weekend out of title hopes and 70 points behind Lando Norris, with only two victories this year. In addition, the Red Bull team has experienced problems with the dismissal of team principal Christian Horner in July, and the new boss, Laurent Mekies, is still in his first races since taking over as team principal. Verstappen highlighted that the team has taken a step forward with the car. “Before, it seemed like you were a passenger in the car. We had some races where it just wasn’t balanced. And now, finally, there was more balance in the car and then the tires also behave a little more normally.” However, he emphasized that the team is not “back”. “I think it still depends a bit on the track. Here it is driven with little aerodynamic load. It always seems that our car is a little more competitive when there is little or medium aerodynamic load. So it’s not that we’re suddenly back. It’s not that we can fight, I think, every weekend. But the positive thing is that we seem to understand a little more what we need to do with the car to be more competitive.” “So I hope that continues in the next rounds as well, and some clues will be a little better than others.” Verstappen’s victory has reduced the points gap to 63 points behind Norris, who is in second place, with eight races remaining. Formula 1 heads to Baku, Azerbaijan, in two weeks.