Verstappen: From Monza ‘monster’ to 2023-style win
After Max Verstappen called the Red Bull car a “monster” at Monza last year, few had high hopes for Red Bull heading into the Italian Grand Prix this year. But from the very first practice session, reality turned out differently. When Helmut Marko said behind the garages on Friday that Verstappen could fight for victory, many in the paddock looked at him in disbelief. Wasn’t he far too optimistic?
The eventual answer was clearly no – Marko turned out to be spot on. Verstappen impressively clinched pole position on Saturday, with the notable detail that he played a decisive role in the car’s set-up. Several team members – including technical director Pierre Waché – preferred to run a bit more wing and therefore more downforce, but Verstappen pushed through.
The race pace remained a big question mark for the Dutchman: “It has happened before that Friday looked good, and then we got destroyed on Sunday.” But none of that materialised in Monza. Verstappen earned applause in the media centre for his bold move around the outside of Lando Norris and went on to dominate. This Sunday was reminiscent of his best days in the 2023 season. From a “monster” to a dominant victory on the very same track – what a difference 12 months can make.
– Ronald Vording
McLaren has some management to do
Like a year ago in Monza, once again McLaren has something to talk about after the race in regards to how to manage the battle between its drivers.
Lando Norris, McLaren, Oscar Piastri, McLaren, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images
Was it fair to give Lando a place back he lost because of McLaren’s slow pit stop? Probably. But was it something that is in line with the papaya rules – Piastri’s message hints that it’s not entirely like that.
This will, surely, spark some debate. By finishing second in Monza, Lando Norris cut down the gap in the championship by three points. Not much, but still something.
– Oleg Karpov
Bortoleto, increasingly at home in F1 points
Gabriel Bortoleto knows his way around Monza. After all, he won here last year in Formula 2, coming from last on the grid. This time, the Brazilian enjoyed another strong and solid weekend in his rookie season with Sauber on Italian soil.
Bortoleto matched his best starting position of the year by qualifying seventh on Saturday, beating his team-mate Nico Hülkenberg for the sixth consecutive time in the process (he now leads 10–6 this season). On Sunday, he drove a composed race to finish eighth on a day when the other car wasn’t even able to start due to a technical failure.
This was Bortoleto’s fourth points finish in the last six races, confirming his impressive first F1 season. Yes, Isack Hadjar has just scored a podium, but the Brazilian is also performing strongly in the battle for the unofficial Rookie of the Year honours.
– Federico Faturos
Tsunoda isn’t doing enough to secure his Red Bull future
This isn’t going great for Yuki Tsunoda. Time is ticking – and races like this perhaps won’t make Helmut Marko and Laurent Mekies wait too long before making a call on the 2026 line-up. The Japanese driver had been dreaming of this chance, but now it seems it might have been better to stay at Racing Bulls this year. The Red Bull move hasn’t brought anything he’d hoped for. Forget podiums – even points are proving difficult to come by.
Yuki Tsunoda, Red Bull Racing Team
Photo by: Clive Rose / Getty Images
All this while Max Verstappen continues to amaze. His Monza weekend was once again stunning – and while Tsunoda can again say he didn’t really have the same spec, that surely can’t explain the difference in performance.
– Oleg Karpov
Traditional races need a bit of help
We all love traditional, road course circuits, don’t we? But a dry Spa race is often a dud, and this Italian Grand Prix has not been a thriller either. After three scintillating laps the lightning quick Monza race soon settled into a stalemate, with medium tyres that could easily have lasted the entire distance and thereby nipped any sort of strategic gamesmanship in the bud.
Should Pirelli have considered bringing even softer tyres to its home race? Should the DRS zones have been slightly longer? Or has this generation of cars become too downforce heavy, despite the ground-effect rules, to provide decent racing at high-speed circuit?
With F1 boss Stefano Domenicali making noises about more sprint races, reverse grids and even shorter grand prix distances, perhaps the sport’s first order of business should be that the basis it’s building on is an enthralling spectacle. There’s no point shortening races if that just means even less action. The best way to attract younger audience is still a good motor race.
– Filip Cleeren
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