Verstappen ‘realistic’ about Red Bull’s chances in Monza as he sets out target

After an early exit from his home race last time out in Zandvoort, Red Bull's Max Verstappen has given his take on what might be possible this weekend at the Italian Grand Prix.

Sep 03, 2026 6:07pm UTC

MONZA, ITALY - SEPTEMBER 03: Max Verstappen of the Netherlands and Oracle Red Bull Racing looks on

Max Verstappen has admitted that he and Red Bull “need to be realistic” about their chances at the upcoming Italian Grand Prix, with the Dutchman setting out the aim of “just trying to have a good weekend”.

Verstappen’s home event last time out in Zandvoort ended in disappointing fashion after he suffered a crash at the end of the first lap, putting him out of the running while stand-in team mate Liam Lawson salvaged points for the squad in P7.

Looking ahead to Monza, Verstappen will sit out Free Practice 1 as Ayumu Iwasa gets behind the wheel before he returns to action for FP2 – and while it is a track that he claimed victory at last season, the four-time World Champion is keeping his expectations modest this time around.

“Let's see,” he said of his prospects. “Of course I'm not doing FP1, so we'll see afterwards how the car will be. Trying to get it into a nice window, but at the same time we also need to be realistic, where we are at the moment as a team and how we're performing.

“We’ll just try to have a good weekend. I know it's already going to be very complex with the energy around here, so we just need to try and understand that first and then we'll just see from there where we are in the pecking order.

“Just going off the last few races, I think we just need to be realistic.”

ZANDVOORT, NETHERLANDS - AUGUST 22: Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (3) Oracle Red

Verstappen is remaining "realistic" about his and Red Bull's prospects at the Italian Grand Prix

Looking back at the difficult end to what will be the last Dutch Grand Prix, Verstappen conceded that he does not think it would have been a particularly strong outing even if he had been able to continue.

“I would have loved to have completed the race, even though I don’t think it would have been a magic race for us pace-wise,” he explained.

“The whole weekend we were a bit off, and I was not feeling well so all the combinations were not there.

“But I look back at it with a lot of positives – I won races there, we had really great moments with the fans there, so overall it was a crazy experience and I’m very happy that I got to have a home Grand Prix like that.”