Max Verstappen is ruling out victory at the Italian Grand Prix after a difficult practice on Friday.
The Dutchman finished fifth fastest at Monza, behind Lando Norris and the AlphaTauri of Pierre Gasly such was the mixed-up nature of the pecking order.
And his day was largely characterised by a spin into the gravel during the morning session, as he lost the rear of his Red Bull on the kerb in the middle of the Ascari chicane.
“The team fixed my car quickly during FP1 and I didn’t have any effects from that in FP2 so there are no concerns there,” Verstappen confirmed.
“But not a good day. I’m struggling with balance and grip in general, so quite a bit of work to do. It wasn’t the best start to a weekend.”
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Relative to Mercedes, Max was a full second off the pace set by Lewis Hamilton and so reflecting on his prospects, the 22-year-old admits he’d have to get creative.
“I think winning is impossible,” he said. “We are losing a lot of ground on all those straights, but we’ll see. Last year the race went much better than we expected.
“I can take pole position and beat Hamilton by half a second in qualifying on Saturday. If I cut a chicane!”
As for teammate Alex Albon, he seemed more comfortable than Verstappen, perhaps highlighting why he was able to finish ahead in Practice 1.
“It was feeling okay in the morning, I still feel like the afternoon wasn’t too bad, it just needs a little bit of a touch-up,” he surmised.
“It’s just very close as we expected. So it will be tricky but a tenth is going to be four positions I reckon so we have to do some homework and get the car a little bit better in the comparison between low-speed and high-speed.”
In the afternoon, a comparison was not possible as the Thai driver was one of several drivers to have their best times deleted for track limits.
“Yeah, it’s tricky because what you get is people backing up into you in the last corner,” he explained.
“So you get their dirty air when they start a lap and you are struggling to stay tight in the last corner just because they’re trying to make a gap to start their lap.
“I think when qualifying starts it might be a little bit easier just because everyone is going to be pushing at the same time.”
