On Friday at Monza, Verstappen had ended second practice ninth-fastest after skipping the opening session, and had told reporters the circuit was “just very energy inefficient”. His technical director, Pierre Wache, publicly agreed that the RB22 had a balance problem, in language that echoed the team’s diagnosis after Zandvoort a fortnight earlier.
By Sunday, Verstappen was on the podium, 14.7 seconds behind race winner Kimi Antonelli. He had qualified sixth, kept out of trouble in a chaotic race, and finished third.
“We managed to have a strong turnaround from Friday to Saturday, and the car was definitely in a better window,” Verstappen said.
How the RB22 was pulled back into a working window
Verstappen’s criticism of the RB22 has been unusually blunt across the two weekends. At Zandvoort, where he crashed out on the opening lap in damp conditions, he said the car was “not really to my liking”. At Monza he told reporters on media day what was coming.
“It’s going to be pretty painful. This track is just very energy inefficient, but I also don’t want to be too negative about it all,” he said.
Wache’s Friday response, given to reporters at Monza, was to accept the diagnosis rather than push back.
“I think that clearly we have a balance issue on the car, that is the main thing,” the Red Bull technical director said.
Whatever setup and hardware changes followed overnight, they moved the RB22 into a workable window for qualifying and the race. They did not close the underlying deficit to the Mercedes power unit that has shaped much of Red Bull’s season.
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Verstappen radioed during the race that the car was “completely broken on the rear axle”, and once he had led, he could not defend his position on the straights.
“I didn’t enjoy it a lot when people just drive by you like you’re a turtle,” Verstappen told reporters.
“We just can’t keep up with the deployment of the Mercedes-powered cars, and that is very tough on a track like Monza.”
Antonelli’s home win reshapes the title race
Antonelli’s victory from 19th on the grid, the first home win for an Italian at Monza since Ludovico Scarfiotti in 1966, extended his championship lead over team-mate George Russell to 66 points, with Lando Norris a further 30 points behind.
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For Verstappen and team principal Laurent Mekies, the next test comes quickly. The Spanish Grand Prix at Madrid’s new Madring circuit is on 11-13 September.
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