"I think we have a good chance": Max Verstappen 'not worried' of Ferrari's threat despite their strong FP1 at 2022 F1 Italian GP

Heading into the 2022 F1 Italian GP, Max Verstappen, on the first day of practice, did not top the time sheets in either of the sessions. It was assumed that Red Bull would show their superiority immediately from the first session itself, but Ferrari came out on top during practice. Charles Leclerc was the fastest lap in FP1 with his Scuderia teammate Carlos Sainz topping in FP2.

Verstappen was asked if he was concerned about the pace Ferrari showed at both the practice sessions, but he does not seem to be worried about it at all:

“They look good. I’m not worried about it. We still have things to finalize, but if you look at the long runs, I think we look quite good and that’s the most important for the race.”

Max Verstappen is also pretty confident that they will easily be able to bridge the gap with Ferrari and that things are looking quite good for Red Bull. After trying out some options for the car during practice, they are all set to dominate yet another Grand Prix.

He continued:

“It was quite good, just trying a few things for the car from FP1 to FP2 to understand if you could do things better, some work, some didn’t. Long run practice, of course with the little penalty we have, and everything seems to work quite well."

The Dutchman is certain that even if they are even half as good at Monza as they were at Spa, they have a very good chance of winning. Spa was one of the greatest performances by Max Verstappen where he started P14 and was leading just a few laps into the race, finishing first.

He brought up Spa while reiterating:

“There’s still a few things we can do better but of course Monza is not like Spa in terms of track layout. It’s low downforce but we never expected it to be like Spa. But if we can find a way, even if it’s a half way, of Spa then I think we have a good chance.”

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Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez pretty confident for Monza

Red Bull is entering this weekend with immense optimism, poise, and assertion, which was reflected in both drivers. Sergio Perez finished P6 in FP2, but that does not worry him either. He shares the same attitude as the team:

“I think we’ve been playing around quite a bit with the setup, exploring different directions, so I think all in all we have pretty good information going forward. I think in the end we ended up fairly compare with him [Verstappen in terms of set-up]."

When talking about the race, Max Verstappen mused:

"I think the main thing will be the race pace. Tyre degradation around this place will be key for Sunday’s race. Overtaking will be hard, obviously, but I think the degradation look promising.”

Max Verstappen's 5-place penalty for the ICE change and Sergio Perez' 10-place seems to be completely secondary, and not a factor Red Bull has been bothered about at all. They are exuding the same composure as before in every race, and it looks like there is a dominant performance ahead for them this weekend.

Also Checkout:- F1 Schedule 2022