Max Verstappen has lauded the “strong turnaround” from Red Bull at Monza, after starting the Italian Grand Prix weekend off on the wrong foot.
Max Verstappen has commended Red Bull for the recovery the Milton Keynes-based outfit engineered with his RB22 across the Italian Grand Prix weekend, describing it as a “strong turnaround” after a bruising period for the team.
The four-time F1 drivers’ champion finished on the podium at Monza, a result that seemed improbable just 48 hours earlier when he cut a frustrated figure during Friday practice, complaining of balance issues and a lack of pace after missing FP1 entirely due to Ayumu Iwasa’s mandatory rookie running and ending FP2 only ninth fastest.
The round at the Temple of Speed came off the back of Red Bull’s recent nadir at Zandvoort, where the Dutchman qualified a lowly seventh and crashed out on the opening lap in damp conditions.
He was blunt in his assessment there, saying the RB22 was “not really to my liking” and that Red Bull lacked the pace to fight at the front.
had my issues in qualifying that, of course, were still there,” Verstappen told media, including RacingNews365. “But also, I think it was quite clear during the race that we just can’t keep up with the deployment of the Mercedes-powered cars, and that is, of course, on a track like Monza, very tough.
“Of course, with the overtake mode it looked quite promising, but as soon as I got in the lead, it was very hard to defend, and that has been a bit my problem throughout the whole race.
“Even when we had the VSC, we boxed, had better tyres, I’m overtaking cars, but as soon as they, you know, can hang in that overtake mode, it’s just too powerful for us to actually really defend that, even on better tyres. So, it took me a while even to clear the McLarens.”