Max Verstappen left fuming as struggles continue at Italian Grand Prix

Max Verstappen’s struggles continued in bizarre scenes as the three-time Formula 1 champion was left searching for answers.

What just happened Max? (Photo by Gabriel BOUYS / AFP)

Max Verstappen’s bizarre struggles continued at the Italian Grand Prix after the Red Bull superstar finished seventh in qualifying.

The 26-year-old has failed to win any of the last five GPs - only finishing on the podium in two - after claiming the honours at seven of the first 10.

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As he fails to fire, his nearest championship rival is clicking on all cylinders with Lando Norris claiming pole position ahead of McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri.

Trailing by 70 points in the drivers’ standings, Norris clocked one minute and 19.327 seconds, as Verstappen finished nearly seven-tenths of a second behind.

Norris claimed his fourth pole of the season, and second in succession, in a car which looks capable of a similar result as at last weekend’s Dutch GP, when he romped home to victory nearly 23 seconds ahead of the three-time champion Verstappen.

A dominant display from Norris and Piastri is great news for McLaren who are only 30 points behind Red Bull in the constructors’ championship.

“I think for us to come away with a 1-2, to come away with another pole, was probably not quite what we were expecting. But in a good way, of course,” Norris told reporters.

Oscar Piastri, Lando Norris and George Russell. (Photo by Andrej ISAKOVIC / AFP)

Verstappen’s troubles continued, the Dutchman complaining on the team radio about steering and lack of grip on the newly laid tarmac at the Temple of Speed.

“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.”

Verstappen and Horner after qualifying. (Photo by Gabriel BOUYS / AFP)

Red Bull boss Christian Horner was far more bewildered by the unthinkable qualifying outcome as he spoke to Sky Sports.

“I think there’s something that clearly isn’t working on the car,” he said.

“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.”

Red Bull are searching for answers. (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images)

Despite the struggles, Norris expects Verstappen to fight back and give the McLaren cars a run for their money.

“For sure it’s a good opportunity (to cut Verstappen’s leader). I mean I expect him to come through and probably be behind us quite quickly … I expect them to probably be a bit more hopeful tomorrow,” said Norris of Verstappen.

“He still seemed quick, like in Q2 he is right there and ended up quicker than me even on a used tyre.”

George Russell will sit on the second row for Mercedes alongside Ferrari driver and home hope Charles Leclerc while Lewis Hamilton was one place and 0.509sec ahead of Verstappen in the second Mercedes.

“I don’t really know what to expect because I’ve just not really done the laps to be honest, so I’ll just have to trust my instincts and go from there really and adapt on the fly,” said Russell.

“I’m really, really pleased to be lining up P3 after the day we’ve had and the car definitely seems to have potential.”

Hamilton, who was fastest in the day’s practice session, is racing for the last time at Monza as a Mercedes driver and Ferrari fans will be keen to see how the 39-year-old will perform ahead of his move to the Scuderia at the end of the year.

Hamilton and Leclerc will be teammates next year. (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images)

Mercedes announced on Saturday morning that Hamilton would be replaced by teenage rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who has had an eventful weekend after crashing and damaging Russell’s car in Friday’s first practice.

The Italian, who celebrated his 18th birthday last weekend, nearly crashed out of his Formula Two sprint race almost straight after the start, but managed to get back on the track and finish in 18th.

However Mercedes did not say for how long Antonelli’s contract would run and team chief Toto Wolff didn’t close the door on snatching Verstappen for 2026 when asked if he discarded the idea.

“If flirting outside happens, then they will know it before me. These guys will know it at the same time,” Wolff told reporters.

Another rookie Franco Colapinto will have a tough debut F1 race after replacing struggling Logan Sargeant who was axed by Williams after a disastrous weekend at Zandvoort.

The 21-year-old is the first Argentine driver to compete in F1 for over two decades but will start way back in 18th after being eliminated in Q1.

Italian Grand Prix starting grid

Front row: Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri

Second row: George Russell, Charles Leclerc

Third row: Carlos Sainz, Lewis Hamilton

Fourth row: Max Verstappen, Sergio Perez

Fifth row: Alexander Albon, Nico Hulkenberg

Sixth row: Fernando Alonso, Daniel Ricciardo

Seventh row: Kevin Magnussen, Pierre Gasly

Eighth row: Esteban Ocon, Yuki Tsunoda

Ninth row: Lance Stroll, Franco Colapinto

Tenth row: Valtteri Bottas, Guanyu Zhou

- with AFP

Originally published as Max Verstappen left fuming as struggles continue at Italian Grand Prix