MILAN –
Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen is unusually optimistic about his chances of finally achieving a good result at the Italian Grand Prix.
Monza is the only circuit where Verstappen has never been on the podium, with the Red Bull driver’s best result of 2018 being fifth place.
Verstappen didn’t even manage to finish the last two editions of the Italian GP at all, as his retirement last year came after a spectacular crash with title rival Lewis Hamilton, who was also forced to retire.
However, the Dutch driver will take to the track on Sunday with four straight wins and his Red Bull, which has had superior straight line speed all season, which is crucial at one of F1’s fastest circuits.
“We’ve always been slow on the straights, so it’s normal when you get here that it’s never going to be a good weekend,” said Verstappen when asked about his previous problems at Monza. “Also, you know, there are also a few technical issues on this track and we always had to take engine penalties here as well. So of course it’s never going to be great.
“But now I think at straight line speed it can be a very different weekend for us.”
Verstappen’s dominant performances have seen the championship leader build a 109-point lead over Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc and his teammate Sergio Perez, with just seven races remaining.
Last year he led Hamilton by just three points from the Italian GP.
“I’m always relaxed,” said Verstappen. “Even last year, when the lead wasn’t that big, I think we always felt good and confident. But with the lead we have now, of course it’s nice and great, but we still want to win.” more races.”
Verstappen won in front of his home fans at the Dutch GP on Sunday and Ferrari will be hoping his fierce red-clad tifosi have something to celebrate at their home circuit this weekend as well.
Leclerc was on the top step of the legendary Monza podium in 2019, but that was Ferrari’s only success since 2010 and he doesn’t expect to repeat that this year, especially after another flawed performance by the team at Zandvoort.
“At least on paper it looks like a difficult weekend,” said Leclerc. “We expect Red Bull to get stronger, the track characteristics don’t exactly match our car but we’ve had some good and bad surprises this year so we’re hoping this is one of the good ones and we compare to what we’re expecting , surpass.
“We are slower on the straights, especially compared to Red Bull. Their main strength this year is speed on the straights, we seem to be a bit quicker in the corners. At circuits like this it’s not enough to regain the advantage they have on the straights.”