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Verstappen rues Turn 1 scuffle at Monza
Max Verstappen admits he was caught out by how much the field slowed at the start of the Italian Grand Prix, where he picked up damage at the first corner and was limited to eighth place.
Honda introduced its Spec 4 power unit in Belgium last weekend, with Verstappen taking the upgrade in Italy and receiving a grid penalty as a result. Starting from the back, Verstappen was cautious into Turn 1 but still ran into the back of Sergio Perez and was forced to pit at the end of the opening lap, going on to recover to eighth behind the Racing Point.
“It was not even late braking, I was just following, following, and suddenly everything almost stood still,” Verstappen said. “I tried to avoid it, but I still clipped, I think Sergio, on the rear wheel. The front wing was a bit down, so we boxed. The race was still on. I think we had good pace. I got through quite a lot of cars, but then again I got stuck behind Sergio, [and] they have such a high top speed, I had no chance to get by.”
Despite never being in contention for a podium, Verstappen said his outlook for Monza had always been about damage limitation.
“I think the car performed well," he said. "We were unlucky with the Virtual Safety Car again, two or three cars overtook me in the pit stop because of that. The whole race, everything was just against us. It doesn't work out. Sometimes starting at the back works out brilliantly, like in Austin last year, but you can't expect it to be like that all the time of course.
“(Monza) was about surviving, trying to score a few points. We did that, but I'm really looking forward to now starting at the front again for Singapore. We've had our penalties, and hopefully also our trouble. From now on we can just focus on performance.”
Chris Medland
While studying Sports Journalism at the University of Central Lancashire, Chris managed to talk his way into working at the British Grand Prix in 2008 and was retained for three years before joining ESPN F1 as Assistant Editor. After three further years at ESPN, a spell as F1 Editor at Crash Media Group was followed by the major task of launching F1i.com’s English-language website and running it as Editor. Present at every race since the start of 2014, he has continued building his freelance portfolio, working with international titles. As well as writing for RACER, his broadcast work includes television appearances on F1 TV and as a presenter and reporter on North America's live radio coverage on SiriusXM.
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