Verstappen compares himself to ‘turtle’ but finds Mercedes weakness

Despite briefly leading the race, the Dutchman saw the Mercedes cars fly past him with much more speed on Monza’s straights. However, Verstappen struck back against the rest of the grid in the areas where he was strong and, after a difficult weekend, still managed to clinch a podium.

Verstappen had to start the Italian Grand Prix from fifth on the grid. After a challenging weekend, the question beforehand was how much would be possible for the Red Bull driver. In the race, Mercedes ultimately proved a step too far, but behind them, Verstappen impressively worked his way forward.

That didn’t happen without a fight. On the straights, Verstappen could do little against the speed of Mercedes pair Kimi Antonelli and George Russell.

Asked what it was like to keep fighting from that position, the four-time world champion told GPblog and others: “To be honest, it’s not really fun when people just drive past you like you’re a turtle.”

Still, Verstappen didn’t just accept it when he was overtaken. The Dutchman knew his RB22 had a strong point under braking and used that to fight back immediately.

He added: “Then you just send it around the outside again. The car is good under braking, so that helps. That gave me a lot of confidence to attack in the braking zones.”

That confidence was clearly visible during the race. Verstappen managed to take or retake positions several times with strong moves under braking during the Grand Prix. He seized his opportunities at one corner in particular, explaining: “At both starts, I managed to do that in Turn 4.”

So, all in all, he certainly didn’t mind the pure racing in Italy, with one caveat. “It’s fun, but at the same time also frustrating, you know? I’m just trying to maximise everything I can.”

In the end, he did exactly that. After starting only fifth, Verstappen fought his way to the podium at Monza. Only the Mercedes cars remained out of reach, leaving him to finish a difficult weekend in third place.