Verstappen “never experienced something like” Monza qualifying balance swing

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen says he has never experienced the dramatic balance swing he suffered in Monza qualifying, which saw him go significantly slower in Q3.

Verstappen could only manage seventh in qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix, nearly seven tenths behind McLaren’s polesitter Lando Norris, as wild car balance swings made the three-time champion four tenths slower than he was in Q2 despite using newer tyres.

The Dutchman and team-mate Sergio Perez, who qualified alongside him in eighth, have been struggling with balance problems on their RB20 since May’s Miami round, but with rival teams catching up in the development race Red Bull now no longer has the pace in hand to cover them up.

“For whatever reason in Q3 I picked up a lot of understeer on both tyre sets and this is something that I don’t understand at the moment,” said Verstappen. “It was just not drivable anymore. I couldn’t attack any corner, so that’s something that is very weird.

“I mean, going four tenths slower than what you did in Q2 is not normal. The balance difference that I had in Q3 was very weird. Never experienced something like that before.”

Red Bull had looked competitive as late as Q2, and its race pace on Friday also looked more promising and on par with its competitors, with the team known to usually run very conservative engine modes in Friday practice.

But Verstappen cautioned that his car’s puzzling balance limitations are also set to impact tyre wear, which could limit his options to progress on Sunday.

When asked if he could still get in the hunt for victory, he replied: “Normally not. The whole weekend already we were too slow.

“The long runs might look good on paper but it didn’t really feel like that personally. The problem is that when you don’t have a balanced car, of course in the race that is also quite painful on tyres.

“So let’s see. Maybe with how the car is at the moment it might be a little bit better for the race but we’re also starting in the back of the top group.

“We’ll just have to wait and see what happens in front of us. There are a few unknowns with the graining naturally as well. We’ll find out tomorrow.”

Perez felt that Red Bull’s lack of a specific Monza rear wing also hurt the team “more than we thought”.

Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB20

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

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