Max Verstappen explained how Red Bull was able to banish its Monza 2024 ‘disaster’ to take pole position for the Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix.
The Dutchman stole pole in the final seconds from the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri in a closely-contested qualifying session at the Temple of Speed.
In the process, Verstappen set a unique new record as, with an average speed of 264.681 km/h, his lap was, by mean speed, the fastest in the 75-year history of F1.
By lining up first, Verstappen’s presence at the head of the grid threatens to help create a chaotic Grand Prix with the two title protagonists directly behind him.
Speaking after qualifying, Verstappen explained just how tough it is to negotiate the Monza circuit, and acknowledged the difference from last year, when he qualified seventh, a whopping seven tenths of Norris.
“It was good, it’s always tough around here, low downforce, easy to make mistakes on the braking or on entries because you have to commit, but with low downforce that’s not always easy,” the World Champion told media including Motorsport Week.
“Also you know the closing speeds in certain corners to hit the apex perfectly, but I think that final lap was pretty decent and to get pole here for us I think is big.
“It’s not always been a good track for us, especially last year was quite a bit of a disaster. So this year much better and very happy too to be first.”
Verstappen expects ‘tough battle’ in Italian GP
Verstappen revealed that he feels the Red Bull team is making strides in improving the RB21, and added that there appears to have been a breakthrough in set-up too.
“Yeah, I think we’re making improvements on the car, but also set-up-wise I guess we found a little bit of a nicer direction,” he said.
“We need to understand more why in the race sometimes it doesn’t really translate, like I had quite a decent feeling, but then it was really not good in the race.
“So I don’t sit here and think that tomorrow is going to be fantastic in terms of how competitive we’re going to be against McLaren.
“I think the whole season has shown that yes, sometimes you can be in front in qualifying, but in the race it’s very tough to stay ahead.
“Sometimes on tracks maybe where it’s difficult to pass, I think here you can race.
“So I expect it to be a tough battle, but we are making steps forward and that’s exactly what we want to do.
“We want to learn a bit more, that hopefully also helps us next year.”
READ MORE – Max Verstappen denies McLaren with superb pole position for F1 Italian GP
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