After losing the use of his radio midway through qualifying, Max Verstappen was happy to find out he qualified seventh for the Italian Grand Prix on Saturday.
The Red Bull Racing youngster felt his grid position was good, especially as the team had to make compromises to the downforce levels on their RB12 in order to offset the power deficit they have down the long straights of the Autodromo Nazionale Monza.
“I’m actually pretty happy with qualifying today,” revealed Verstappen. “I thought we would be more behind but actually everything was very tight.
“We lost radio communications in the end so I didn’t know where I was and when I came back and saw that I was seventh I thought that’s not too bad. We’re within three hundredths to P5 so I think we can’t complain, especially with the compromises we have to make with the downforce levels.”
Verstappen hopes that Red Bull continue to show better race pace than qualifying pace in Italy, but remains realistic that Sunday’s race could be a difficult affair for the team.
“You never know what will happen tomorrow, normally we’re a bit stronger in the race than in qualifying, so let’s hope for a good race,” said Verstappen.
“Of course you always want to be further ahead but we have to be realistic and this track is a challenge for us.”
