Red Bull's Helmut Marko shares his verdict after the first day of running in the F1 Italian GP

Red Bull team advisor Helmut Marko claimed that the RB20 would be helped by the removal of the old kerbs during their quest to win the Italian Grand Prix this weekend. The Autodromo Nazionale Monza has undergone significant changes from its previous iterations as the iconic sausage kerbs in Turn 1, Curve Grande, and Ascari chicane have been replaced by much flatter kerbs to increase the overall speed of the track known as the 'Temple of Speed'.

However, the Italian GP this weekend also presents an opportunity for the teams to test out their 2024 challengers in low downforce configurations for one of the first times this year.

The reigning world champions produced a better showing at the track after their struggles at Zandvoort last weekend as Max Verstappen finished P1 in FP1 and Sergio Perez finished in P9 but they were unable to get a soft tire running in FP2 due to the red flag caused by Kevin Magnussen interrupting their run plan.

Speaking with Sky Sports Germany, Red Bull team advisor spoke about a key factor that could work in their favor this weekend and said (via RacingNews365):

"The kerbs have clearly become flatter. Last year that was a handicap for us, despite winning everything. The high temperatures also suit us, although I think during the weekend the grip will improve. We are actually missing speed, especially in sector 1. If we can minimize that, I think we can perform quite well."

While talking about the track changes and how it suited them, Marko reflected:

"The track has become faster with each lap. But the balance has clearly improved and that is what we were looking for."

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Max Verstappen analyzes his Friday Practice sessions in the Red Bull RB20

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen stated that He believed the long-run pace of the RB 20 was more competitive during the FP2 session.

Speaking with "F1.com", the three-time world champion said:

“I just tried quite a few things today, and probably FP2 was initially not that great, but then it seemed like the long run was a little bit more competitive. It seems quite aggressive on tyres at the moment, they are opening up so quite interesting how that will evolve for the race as well," Verstappen said.

"I think we have quite a few good directions to take with the car, just need to tidy it up a bit. I think it will be quite close, as you can see, between a lot of cars, and hopefully, we can be in that mix,” he added.

The Dutch driver concluded that there was still a "bit of work to do" for the Red Bull F1 team to remain in contention on track. Max Verstappen finished the FP2 session in P14 while his teammate Sergio Perez finished a place behind him.