Verstappen happy with 5th after difficult qualifying

Max Verstappen will line-up in fifth position for the Italian Grand Prix after a gulf in performance between Ferrari and Mercedes and the rest of the field. The Dutchman said that he was happy with the result saying that it was the maximum the team could have hoped for at the power circuit.

Verstappen ended up 1.4 seconds off of pole man Kimi Raikkonen but admitted that the power differences between Ferrari and Red Bull meant that the result was expected at a track like Monza.

“We tried to make the most of it and fifth was the maximum result today”, Verstappen explained to the media after qualifying. “We’re pretty far off the front. Although I didn’t have a slipstream in my final run in Q3, I don’t think we would’ve been further up the grid, even if we’d had one. Perhaps we would’ve been a bit closer.”

Verstappen did compliment the new upgrade Red Bull received from the new Spec-C Renault power unit, providing a boost in power the team dearly need going into the final stint in the 2018 season.

“It’s definitely a bit better. Probably a tenth and a half. Hopefully it will get us closer to the front, but the gap is big.”

Although he said he was happy with qualifying, he seemed resigned to a quiet race tomorrow in fifth with Red Bull so far off the pace of the front-runners.

“The Ferraris and Mercedes will be too quick for us. We’ll drive our own race and see if something happens in front of us. Behind me, there is essentially no competition so we’re really in a kind of no-mans land.”