Verstappen fights back after anti-stall drama

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Red Bull's Max Verstappen wasn't sure why it happened, but his launch off the starting grid at the start of the Italian Grand Prix at Monza on Sunday was thwarted when the car went into anti-stall mode.

The poor start cost him several positions as multiple cars were able to get past him in the high-speed run down to the first chicane.

"I don't know actually. I dropped the clutch and got into anti-stall so that's a bit unfortunate," Verstappen explained after falling to 11th place by turn one, having lined up in seventh place on the starting grid.

After that inauspicious start to the race, Verstappen made an early pit stop and then proceeded to climb his way back up the running order to finish right back where he'd started - in seventh place.

"I think we did pretty well, we were catching up again," he said. "It's just hard when you have to overtake so many cars, it also kills a bit your tyres especially in the second stint. I think the final stint was good."

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner praised both Verstappen and his team mate Daniel Ricciardo for their battling performances at Monza.

"Both drivers did a great job I think," He said. "To have got fifth and sixth was going to be optimum but after the anti-stall at the start for Max it was a great recovery from both of them."

Verstappen himself was keenly aware that while this weekend might have been a good damage limitation performance, the team was going to have to do a lot better at the next race in Singapore, where the street circuit should better suit their car.

"Monza wasn't bad, but Singapore is where we have to perform," he admitted.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.