Max Verstappen says he cannot complain with qualifying seventh for the Italian Grand Prix, as Red Bull looks like the fourth quickest team over one lap around Monza behind Mercedes, Ferrari, and Williams.
The Milton Keynes-based team entered round 14 of this year’s Formula One world championship with modest ambitions compared to its recent form, as it expects the Temple of Speed not to suit its Renault-powered Red Bull RB12.
“I am actually pretty happy with qualifying,” Verstappen said. “I thought we would be further behind Ferrari for example. At the end it was only half a second.
“Wit the compromise we have had to make with the downforce levels, I think we can be pretty happy.
“It was actually very tight. Because we lost radio communications at the end, I did not know where I was so I came in and I saw seventh and was like ‘ah that’s not too bad, three hundredths to P5. I think we can’t complain.”
With Daniel Ricciardo lining up one spot ahead of him in sixth, Verstappen plays down the chance of Red Bull recovering to a podium finish on Sunday.
“You never know, normally we are a little bit stronger in race pace than in qualifying so we will see. But we are still behind so if we were to fight for the podium, we should have qualified around there as well.”
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