Verstappen bemoans ‘really bad’ qualifying in Monza

Red Bull's quest to retain both championships took a further blow in Monza as Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez qualified towards the back end of the top 10, leaving them with work to do in Sunday's race.

Whilst McLaren went from strength to strength to claim a front row lockout for the Italian Grand Prix, Verstappen and Perez could only manage to set the seventh and eighth fastest times respectively as they found themselves over six-tenths off the pace.

Verstappen especially had looked stronger in the earlier qualifying phases, clocking the second quickest lap behind Lewis Hamilton in Q2, but his pace fell away as McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes all cut down their times more than the Milton Keynes outfit.

With the Dutchman failing to claim a pole position in the last five races, the mystery remains for Red Bull as to why they appear to be moving backwards down the field.

Max Verstappen: 'Q3 was very bad'

“It was just Q3 was very bad,” Verstappen summarised after qualifying. “On both of my tyre sets I just picked up a lot of understeer so I couldn’t attack any corners anymore. I had to back it out a lot mid-corner, and you lose a lot of lap time with that.

“Somehow in Q2 it wasn’t that bad – I did a [1m 19.6s] at that point and we were almost the quickest. I mean, we know our limitations, we know our problems, but at that point I think we had it fairly under control. I went into Q3 and the balance was completely out. I don’t really understand how that happened.

“Of course now we are at the back end of the top group, I would say, so let’s see how that will evolve. It’s difficult to say how competitive we are going to be in the race compared to the others.”

MONZA, ITALY - AUGUST 31: Sergio Perez of Mexico driving the (11) Oracle Red Bull Racing RB20 on track during qualifying ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Italy at Autodromo Nazionale Monza on August 31, 2024 in Monza, Italy. (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images) — Verstappen and Perez will start alongside each other on the fourth row at the Italian Grand Prix

His team mate Perez faced similar difficulties in gelling with the car, but while it was a disappointing session, it was also the closest he has qualified to Verstappen position-wise since the Chinese Grand Prix.

Asked where he believed his pace went over qualifying, Perez said: “I think we have this disconnection with the balance, and I think at these downforce levels it’s even harder. I had a great run on my scrubbed tyre in Q3, but then I put the new tyre [on] and everything gets really picky, really difficult. It’s a difficult one to answer at the moment.

HIGHLIGHTS: Watch the qualifying action at Monza as Norris claims spectacular pole in McLaren 1-2

“It’s going to be a long race, especially from where we are. It could all end up being a DRS train but the long-run pace looks more promising at least than over one lap. If we are able to keep the tyre together then potentially we should be able to progress.”

MONZA, ITALY - AUGUST 31: Oracle Red Bull Racing Team Principal Christian Horner in the Pitlane during qualifying ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Italy at Autodromo Nazionale Monza. (Photo by Bryn Lennon - Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images) — Horner will look to resolve the team's issues as they face a tight battle with McLaren in the standings

Speaking to Sky Sports F1, Team Principal Christian Horner appeared more bewildered by the sudden changes between Q2 and Q3 as he stated that “we simply don’t understand it”.

“I think there’s something that clearly isn’t working on the car,” he continued. “We’re trying to unravel that and understand. First of all you’ve got to understand the problem, then understand how to address it, and then implement it. There’ll be an engineering solution to an engineering problem.

“Q2, it didn’t look too bad. Still had the handling characteristics that Max has been talking about but in Q3 there’s something I missed – the others can all improve on new tyres but we were miles away.

“We need to address it quickly. We can see the McLarens have made a significant step over the last few races and we’re now behind Ferrari and Mercedes here as well, so a lot to do.”