Max Verstappen finished in second position this Saturday in the classification of the 2022 Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix with a best time of 1:20.306 that left him 0.145s behind Charles Leclerc, author of the pole position.
Sergio Pérez, for his part, made a best lap of 1:21.206 , which left him fourth, nine tenths of a second behind his teammate, his biggest difference of the weekend, also being far from Carlos Sainz, who was third. with a 1:20.429 .
Due to the penalties that both will have to comply with after making changes to their power units, Verstappen will start fourth in Sunday’s race and Pérez would do so from tenth position.
Speaking to Sky Sports F1 after qualifying, Horner explained that Red Bull opted for a race-focused set-up for their cars, knowing they would lose performance within a single lap.
“We thought it would be tight. We knew that Ferrari, in particular in qualifying, would be very strong, and it was. Maybe we compromised qualifying a bit to give the drivers a better car for tomorrow’s race. We’ll see if that pays off for us.” “, said.
Then, in response to a question as to whether the difference between his two drivers was related to the ground spec run by both RB18s, the Red Bull principal ruled it out, explaining that with Checo the focus was even more on race pace. compared to Verstappen.
“Obviously we focused a lot on the set-up for the race with ‘Checo’. He has ten penalty positions and Max has five, plus this is his first penalty this year.”
“The difference is what it is. Anyway, he was fast enough to be fourth, but the difference is not only on the ground. Anyway, I think he will start 13th on the grid, so he can have a very good race.” good from there.”
On the chances of coming back at Monza on Sunday, Horner acknowledged that he hopes to see overtaking, although he said it will not be as easy as in Belgium a couple of weeks ago, when Verstappen won relatively comfortably after starting 14th.
“I think it’s not that easy to overtake here. Spa is definitely the easiest circuit to overtake, but I think with these new cars you should be able to follow others more closely at Lesmo, at the last corner, Parabolica, and in general You should be able to run a little closer to the rivals, so that should give you chances to overtake, but let’s see, it won’t be easy.”
