Horner denies suggestion of Verstappen/Lambiase rift

Max Verstappen was quickest in first practice for the Italian Grand Prix in Monza on Friday, but the Red Bull driver was only fifth fastest in the later session after hitting traffic on his flying lap.

Verstappen had been looking set to go top of the timesheets when he encountered heavy congestion in the second sector which left him crossing the line three tenths of a second off Ferrari's Carlos Sainz and in an uncharacteristic fifth.

Verstappen had wanted to have another try but his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase told him there was no time as they had to get on with long distance fuel runs.

“We’re not going to try again? Because I had a s*** read," Verstappen complained over the team radio, to which a deadpan Lambiase replied: “It’s not qualifying, Max.”

“Yeah I know, but I want to have a proper read," Verstappen shot back. And even when he ultimately complied and pitted for medium tyres, the matter was clearly not settled. The engineer dryly enquired: “Did you learn anything?” to which Max said, "Not really" to which Lambiase replied, "Well done."

Red Bull boss Christian Horner played down any suggestions of a rift between the pair. "GP and Max have been together since the first race that Max stepped into the car,” Horner said.

• Read also: Birthday boy Sainz puts Ferrari on top in second practice as Perez crashes

“Max is a demanding customer and you’ve got to be a strong character to deal with that," he added. “GP, he’s our Jason Statham equivalent - they certainly look alike!

“He deals with him firmly but fairly. There’s a great respect between the two of them and that comes out of a mutual trust that you must have between an engineer. There’s a great bond between the two of them, and a great trust."

Verstappen is heading into this weekend hoping to pull off his tenth consecutive Grand Prix win in a row, which would be a new all-time Formula 1 record. Many believe that Red Bull as a whole will sweep every single win in 2023.

"I think I could have done a little better," he said after the end of FP2. "We drove with different wing positions and we have to analyse what works best. That can be tricky at Monza.

"I was still fine-tuning between the low and high-speed corners but I am confident that it will be fine," he insisted. "It was hard to get a good look at everything in the second session, so we still have some work to do.

"During the long run I couldn't really do many laps so I couldn't get a complete picture," he said. "But for the long runs, it was the same for everyone, and there are improvements in the pipeline.

“We’ll have to wait and see until everyone ramps up their engines as well. I think from our side of course we can do a better job but it’s not been the end of the world as well.”

Verstappen did fall foul of the race stewards when Red Bull was handed a five hundred euro fine when he was clocked doing 84.8kph (52.6mph) on pit lane which has a speeding limit of 80kph (49.7mph) in force for this weekend.

Verstappen's team mate Sergio Perez ended the day third fastest despite understeering off at the Parabolica and making light contact with the barrier amid a plume of dust and gravel.

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