Red Bull keeping their powder dry at Monza?

As was the case today at Monza, the first day of practice for the Italian Grand Prix. Although Verstappen was fastest in FP1 early in the day, he was not by the end of it in FP2. That privilege went to birthday boy Carlos Sainz in the Ferrari.

Even Sergio Perez in the second Red Bull was quicker than Verstappen in FP2, in which the Mexican was third quickest and the Dutchman only good for sixth, lacking a tenth or do to his teammate and 0.276s shy of Sainz's top time.

Perez crashed late in the session to add further ammo to those who are calling him to be sacked for underperforming relative to Max.

All indications are that Verstappen was experimenting in FP2 as RBR sought the optimum balance between top speed and grip. This was evidenced by revised rear wings and other tweaks to the RB19, tried out by their drivers for the high-speed Monza.

Expect Verstappen to bring out the big guns for Qualifying, as he remains the outright favourite on 1/5 according to Betway to win the 2023 Italian Grand Prix on Sunday. It would also be a record tenth GP victory in a row and his 12th win of this campaign.

Reflecting on his Friday at Monza, Verstappen said in the Red Bull team report: “From my side it could have probably been a little bit better today, there is still some fine-tuning to do from the low speed to the high speed, but I am, of course, quite confident we will get there.

"We have been trying a few different wing levels and I think we still need to analyse which way to go, it is sometimes a tricky thing around Monza. We were a little bit interrupted with our programme in FP2 so it was hard to get a read on a few things."

On why he never got a meaningful hot lap time on the board, Verstappen explained: "On the short run I was blocked a bit in sector two and then on the long run we didn’t get to do a lot of laps, so you don’t really get a good idea but that’s the same for everyone.

"We need to see what happens when everyone turns up their engines for qualifying, from our side we can do a better job but also today hasn’t been the end of the world," added Verstappen

It was a better day for Perez in terms of ending it faster than his teammate. An increasingly rare feat for the under-pressure veteran, who is a shadow of the driver that beat Max in two races this year - Jeddah and Baku.

In the team report, Perez explained his shunt: “It was a shame that we ended FP2 the way that we did as I felt that it has otherwise been a positive day. I had some understeer around the exit to the corner; I thought I had the car under control but then touched the gravel and it was game over.

"As this happened at the end of my session it meant that we only lost around two laps and it didn’t make too much difference to my programme. Aside from this, the car was performing really well and I feel comfortable with it.

"We have been working really hard and made some positive steps during the session. For now, the Team are looking at the damage to the car. We will be in good shape and in a strong position for the rest of the weekend," added Perez.