Max Verstappen shared his opinion on the late position swap between McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri after claiming victory himself at the Italian Grand Prix.
Expectations were not very high from Verstappen or Red Bull heading to the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, who have resigned themselves to the firm belief that they will not win either Championships this year.
However, the fast and straight nature of the circuit allowed teams other than McLaren to come into the fray, and it was Verstappen who capitalised on the situation by claiming pole position in Saturday's Qualifying.
McLaren didn't look like the dominant package that they had been over the last several Grands Prix, but many expected the Woking-based outfit to put up a fight for the lead come Sunday.
A Dominant Display
In the end, the race didn't materialise in the way that many had predicted. While Verstappen did briefly concede the lead of the Grand Prix to Norris at the start, the Dutchman clearly had more pace than the papaya-coloured cars near him.
After waltzing around the outside of Norris on lap four of 53, the Red Bull driver extended his lead slowly throughout the remainder of the race, and was even faster than the McLarens on the soft tyre when he was on the supposedly slower hard compound.
Verstappen crossed the line almost 20 seconds ahead of Norris in second. Piastri in the other McLaren round out the podium.
Speaking to Sky Sports F1 after the Grand Prix, the four-time World Champion reflected on his dominant performance at the head of the field.
He said: "I would say the race pace was even better than expected. The balance was just quite nice. For most of the first stint we were looking good on the tyres.
"We did the right strategy. We pitted to the hards so I could push flat out to the end.
"I understood the strategy of McLaren staying out hoping for a Safety Car. But at the end it was quite straightforward. That’s nice sometimes," Verstappen stated.
The Dutch driver is happy to see that he and the team have had more consistent results over the past few race weekends, and hopes this continues for the rest of the season.
He added: Experimenting but at the same time trying to find solutions. Throughout this season we’ve been a bit all over the shop and I think now we’ve found a direction that suits the car so I hope from now onwards it will be a little bit more consistent."
Max's View On McLaren Swap
Both McLarens pitted with a handful of laps remaining in the Grand Prix for soft tyres. However, a slow stop for Norris allowed Piastri to get through for second place after both had pitted.
With this in mind, the McLaren pit wall asked Piastri to let Norris back past, which the Australian reluctantly agreed to do.
When asked about McLaren's decision to allow Norris to pass Piastri without a fight in the closing stages of the race, Verstappen inferred that he wouldn't have made the same call.
He continued: "I’m not going to comment on what they have to do because (McLaren) run the team how they want to run it.
"From my side, mistakes happen, sometimes you can have a slow stop or you can make a mistake or have a failure, that’s all part of racing.
"It’s between them anyway in the championship so they have full right to do what they want," Verstappen concluded.
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