Verstappen reveals how Red Bull turned its car into a race-winning machine at Monza

On the back of an up-and-down season so far in 2025, Red Bull driver Max Verstappen has revealed how the Milton Keynes-based outfit has managed to turn its car into a dominant machine at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza.

Starting from pole, Verstappen had to cut across the first chicane to defend from Lando Noris off the line. As the Dutchman previously had experience with such situation, Red Bull asked him to give the position back to avoid any unnecessary penalties.

The Dutchman did not wait for long to overtake Norris with the help of DRS to be able to drive in clear air. From there he made serene progress, only losing the lead through the pit stop period. McLaren drivers stayed out mucu longer as they were waiting for a possible safety car intervention.

However, there was no interruption, and as soon as Norris and Oscar Piastri completed their stop, Verstappen regained the leas to claim his third Italian Grand Prix victory.

As for his team-mate Yuki Tsunoda, he started in the points and ran there in the early stages. However he then lost out to Andrea Kimi Antonelli. He pitted relatively early, and that saw him get caught in traffic.

Spending the majority of the second half of the Italian Grand Prix in a DRS train, Tsunoda failed to make it back to the points-paying positions.

Red Bull has introduced a new floor at Monza, but only Verstappen was given the upgrade. The Dutchman explained that his RB21 provided him with a better balance while tyre management was also much better than in previous rounds.

"I would say probably a bit better than expected, but once I got back in the lead, I just tried to focus on my own pace and it kept on going, going well. I would say only the last maybe six to eight laps of that stint I started to struggle a little bit on the Medium.

"But up until that point, yeah, it was nice for once. The car was doing a little bit more what I liked. It just seems like this weekend has been another step forward with the behaviour of the car and that also then shows in the race, I think.

"So that was a big positive for us. Then, of course, we did a bit more of a normal strategy, you know, Medium–Hard. Of course, McLaren stayed out to try and gamble for the Safety Car, and I think that's why the gap is a little bit bigger than it should have been. But still for us, an incredible weekend.

Speaking of his car's performance, the four-time F1 champion added: "Before [this race] it felt like you were a passenger in the car.

"We had some races where it was just not balanced. And now, finally, there was more balance in the car and then the tyres also behave a little bit more normal."

Asked whether he was confident that he would he able to pull away from Lando Norris after his move for the lead, Verstappen said: "You don't know. I mean, of course, you are pushing a bit to try and get ahead and then time will tell, right, in that stint if it was going to hang on or not. But after a few laps, it looked like it was going really well."

"There was a lot going on after the first lap, even into Turn 1. I think Oscar and Charles were fighting as well. I could see in my mirror. So it took two, three laps to settle in a bit, and then from there onwards it was fine."

Despite his dominant display at Monza, Verstappen expects further difficulties in the remaining eigth rounds.

"I think it's still a bit track dependent. Here you drive low downforce. It always seems like our car is a little bit more competitive when it’s low- to medium-downforce.

"So it's not like suddenly now we are back. It's not like we can fight, I think, every single weekend.

"But the positive is that we seem to understand a little bit more what we need to do with the car to be more competitive.

"So I hope that that carries on into the coming rounds as well, and some tracks will be a bit better than others," concluded the Dutchman.