Max Verstappen says he’s”really excited” to the GP despite a back-of-the-grid start, using the Dutchman prepared to flaunt his own overtaking abilities.
Following the collapse of a first-lap DNF in Belgium, Verstappen heads to Monza with a brand new Spec 4 Honda engine and, like Red Bull team-mate Alex Albon and Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat final weekend, is put to launch from the rear row of the grid for this, along with Pierre Gasly.
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However, Verstappen is embracing the challenge, particularly as it is a race he didn’t expect to have a possibility of winning because of Ferrari and Mercedes’ strength advantage at F1 monitor.
“I’m really really excited,” he told Sky Sports. “Obviously we must start from the back and perform a while but in general once you take a look at it I think this trail will be a battle for us due to this straight-line speed Ferrari has, along with Mercedes naturally is stronger on the straights than people.
“I think realistically, perhaps you can fight Mercedes should you begin there but it’s going to be challenging. Why not take a penalty, start from the back and try and come through into fifth. Perhaps a little rain on Sunday would be fine.”
There is a danger of showers throughout the weekend and Verstappen, a celebrity F1 2019 performer who’s third in the tournament, admitted that a wet race would create Red Bull”more aggressive”.
The 21-year-old doesn’t believe he will be in the search for the podium.
“You are able to overtake,” Verstappen informed reporters. “The problem is that we aren’t that competitive in comparison to Ferrari or Mercedes.
“There are different tracks where I started at the rear and also finished on the podium since we had really great pace and we can do a different strategy .
“I believe around here, I really don’t expect to go to get a podium but if we could return to fifth, let us say in a standard race with no incidents, I believe that is a good outcome for us.”
Verstappen has secured two podiums with a best finish of second from 18th at the United States GP of a year and has begun lower or 16th in the grid five times into his Red Bull career.
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