Verstappen reckons Red Bull look ‘a lot more competitive’ at Monza after 2024 woes

Max Verstappen is confident that Red Bull can avoid a repeat of their “very tough” Italian Grand Prix weekend from 12 months ago after a much more encouraging first day of practice for this year’s event.

Verstappen and then team mate Sergio Perez were three quarters of a second off the pace in Qualifying around the high-speed Monza circuit last season and could only place sixth and eighth respectively in the race itself.

However, despite a few frustrated radio messages while trying to dial in the RB21 on Friday, Verstappen described a “decent” start for Red Bull this time out, having lapped within two-tenths of pace-setter Lando Norris in FP2.

“Last year for us this was a very difficult weekend and I think we seem a lot more competitive,” said the Dutchman, who set the day’s sixth-fastest time. “I’ve been happy with the car as well.

“The sessions have been quite tricky also with people going off and putting a lot of gravel on the track, but overall it’s been quite a decent Friday I think for us.”

Verstappen’s team mate, Yuki Tsunoda, made it two Red Bull cars in the top-10 positions, winding up just under four-tenths off the pace in ninth.

“Up and down,” the Japanese driver said of his day. “I think it ended up pretty positive for FP2, especially the short run. The pace was really, really good.

“We have to find out why, to be honest, because I picked up so much grip on the soft run. I didn’t expect that with the pace, so I have to understand why. It was a pretty good lap, so I’ll continue digging into that short run.

“For the long run, it’s a place that [we’re] a bit still lacking on pace. You have to balance between short and long run, but the long run is a little bit off, so [there’ll be] a bit more focus on that.”