Verstappen: Race pace was even better than expected

Verstappen stunned the McLarens by his record-breaking pole lap on Saturday, and while he messed up the start, putting himself in a vulnerable position against Norris, going off track to defend, and having to give the position back, he soon made things right by a brilliant pass on the Briton to retake the lead and never looked back.

It was the first time in a while that the reigning Formula 1 Champion enjoyed such an advantage, and it is yet to be clear whether that was down to the nature of Monza or the new floor Red Bull Racing brought this weekend.

Verstappen managed to open up the gap on the McLarens while in the lead and revealed after the race: "I would say the race pace was even better than expected.

"The balance was just quite nice. For most of the first stint we were looking good on the tyres. We did the right strategy. We pitted to the Hards so I could push flat out to the end."

While Red Bull Racing went for the conventional one-stop strategy, switching from Mediums to Hards, McLaren tried something different, keeping their drivers out longer, hoping for a Safety Car and then switching to Softs to try and attack Verstappen.

But that Safety Car never came, and the Dutchman commented: "I understood the strategy of McLaren staying out hoping for a Safety Car. But at the end it was quite straightforward.

"That’s nice sometimes," he admitted. "Experimenting but at the same time trying to find solutions. Throughout this season we’ve been a bit all over the shop, and I think now we’ve found a direction that suits the car, so I hope from now onwards it will be a little bit more consistent."

During the race, Verstappen's Race Engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, was updating his driver on the driver positions and informed him that McLaren swapped their drivers after the pit stops, during which Norris lost out after a slow service from his team.

The four-time F1 Champion expressed his surprise over the radio, and when asked about his opinion after the race, he responded: "I’m not going to comment on what they have to do because (McLaren) run the team how they want to run it.

"From my side, mistakes happen; sometimes you can have a slow stop, or you can make a mistake or have a failure—that’s all part of racing.

"It’s between them anyway in the championship, so they have full right to do what they want," Verstappen concluded.

Despite his win, Verstappen's chances of retaining his F1 Title remain slim, as he is still third, 94 points behind Championship leader Piastri.

(Quotes from Sky Sports F1)