Max Verstappen rates Red Bull’s Italian GP chances after tight practice

Max Verstappen is feeling more upbeat about Red Bull’s chances at the Italian Grand Prix after a “decent” Friday practice.

Fresh from his podium finish on home soil at the Dutch Grand Prix last weekend, Verstappen made a solid start on Friday by finishing fourth in first practice, before ending up sixth in the second session.

The four-time world champion was only 0.199 seconds off Lando Norris’s pacesetting McLaren in a closely-matched FP2 and was left encouraged by his initial feeling in his Red Bull, despite complaining about a lap of grip throughout the day.

Verstappen arrived in Monza downplaying Red Bull’s chances after enduring a particularly painful weekend here last year when he finished a distant sixth, having also qualified well off the pace.

“It’s been quite decent. Last year was a difficult weekend for us and I think we seem a lot more competitive,” the Dutchman said after Friday’s practice running.

“I’ve been happier with the car as well. The sessions have been quite tricky with people going off and putting gravel on the track. But overall, it’s been quite a decent Friday for us.”

Max Verstappen ‘can’t be ruled out’

Sky Sports F1 pundit and three-time W Series champion Jamie Chadwick suggested it would be premature to rule Verstappen out of contention this weekend.

“I just never think you can rule out Max regardless of the circumstances,” she said during the Sky Sports F1 Show on Friday.

“He doesn’t seem too disappointed. Sometimes you see after Friday he’s specifically very frustrated with something in the car. He did talk about a general lack of grip but that wasn’t uncommon with other drivers.

“So it sounds reasonably optimistic. I wouldn’t count him out ever but in terms of the performance deficit from the Red Bull standpoint versus what we’re seeing even from Williams this weekend, there’s a bit of a gap there.”

Verstappen’s teammate Yuki Tsunoda also had a better day as he ended up ninth in second practice and only 0.391s off the pace.

“He’s got to just focus on himself,” said Sky Sports F1 pundit Karun Chandhok with uncertainty remaining over his future. 

“What happened with [Isack] Hadjar last week has happened. I thought he did a good job today. Yuki was two tenths off Max, which was a lot closer than what he’s been for most of his time at Red Bull.

“So I think he should be happy with the way that today’s gone and if he can just build on that and have a clean FP3.

“A lot of the issue that Yuki’s had has been the step between Q1 to Q2, or Q2 to Q3. When other people find chunks of time, he hasn’t on occasion. That’s where now he’s got to really focus the energy overnight.”