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Max Verstappen is on the verge of F1 history at Monza as he looks to set a new record for the most consecutive race wins; watch first Practice from Friday at 12:30pm, with Qualifying on Saturday at 3pm and the Grand Prix on Sunday at 2pm – live on Sky Sports F1
By Nigel Chiu
Last Updated: 31/08/23 5:03pm
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Max Verstappen says Monza is a hard track to optimise his car as he attempts to break the record for consecutive Formula 1 wins.
Max Verstappen says Monza is a hard track to optimise his car as he attempts to break the record for consecutive Formula 1 wins.
Max Verstappen believes some people don’t appreciate Red Bull’s winning streak as he looks to make history by becoming the first driver to win 10 consecutive races.
Victory for Verstappen on Sunday at the Italian Grand Prix – live on Sky Sports – will see him break Sebastian Vettel’s record of nine consecutive wins from 2013.
Meanwhile, Red Bull are unbeaten in 2023 and lead the constructors’ championship by 285 points over Mercedes.
“Everyone has their own opinion on these kind of things but I was never in F1 to try and prove I belong with the greats. I’m just here to try and do the best I can and win as much as I can when I have the opportunity,” said Verstappen.
“It’s a very enjoyable time to drive the car but every single weekend there are always things that come up and you have to optimise.
“It’s never a straightforward weekend. In a way it’s almost like automatic pilot. I always have this thing where you drive the car but think about a lot of other processes.”
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Speaking on the Sky Sports F1 Podcast, Dutch racing driver Giedo van der Garde reveals what Max Verstappen was like as a child.
He added: “I’m not here to prove anything. I’m there to do the best I can with the material I have. People don’t know what is going on with the team and how difficult it is.
“Even when you have a good car, to deliver what we are doing as a team and win basically every race so far. Some people can’t appreciate it when someone constantly does a good job, and I’m not just talking about myself, but the whole team operation. I’m there to do my job and I’m not there for other people to recognise what I’m doing.”
Gasly predicts tricky weekend for Red Bull
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Max Verstappen says he doesn’t want the broken Hungarian GP trophy after he received a replacement for the trophy Lando Norris broke during the podium celebrations.
Monza is the lowest downforce circuit on the calendar and this weekend also sees the Alternative Tyre Allocation in use, so there will be two less sets of tyres available for the event.
The rules also mean the hard tyres will be mandatory for Q1, the mediums in Q2 and the softs in Q3, which could throw a spanner in the works for some teams.
Pierre Gasly, who won the 2020 Italian Grand Prix, thinks Red Bull won’t have it all their own way, despite their advantage over the rest of the field, particularly in the races.
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Speaking on the Sky Sports F1 Podcast, Dutch racing driver Giedo van der Garde believes Max Verstappen’s father, Jos Verstappen, has significantly impacted the Red Bull driver’s career.
“I think this weekend is actually probably the trickiest one for Max,” he said. “It’s Monza, it’s a very different track, you’re very low drag.
“Quite a lot of incidents can happen into Turn 1, you have a massive gain with DRS, so if someone is fast enough to stick to your DRS they always could get a chance. I’ll be surprised if he pulls like a 30-second lead like he can do on some other tracks.”
In response to Gasly’s comments, Verstappen replied: “People are allowed to wish on these things but I think it’s going to be a good track for us.”
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After a challenging Dutch GP, former F1 driver Giedo van der Garde believes Max Verstappen drove his strongest yet.
Gasly was Verstappen’s Red Bull team-mate for the first half of 2019 and also went on to praise the two-time world champion.
“You’ve got to appreciate what he does because he doesn’t do any mistakes. Even last weekend you can have the faster car and have a lock up and go straight and miss it so,” Gasly added.
“I think he’s been very mature in the way that he’s taken risks when they were there. You can see it, there were times where last weekend on the wet he wasn’t pulling away from the others.
“You know he is faster, he could be faster, but you just know he’s got it under control, and he knows when he can give away three-tenths and then not take too many risks, and then really push when things are more stable. So he is very complete and very mature in the way that he approaches it.”
Sky Sports F1’s live Italian GP schedule
Friday 1 September
8.35am: F3 Practice
10am: F2 Practice
12pm: Italian GP Practice One (session starts at 12.30pm)
2pm: F3 Qualifying
2.45pm: F2 Qualifying
3.40pm: Italian GP Practice Two (session starts at 4pm)
5.15pm: The F1 Show
Saturday 2 September
8.20am: F3 Sprint Race
11.15am: Italian GP Practice Three (session starts at 11.30am)
1.10pm: F2 Sprint Race
2.10pm: Italian GP Qualifying build-up
3pm: Italian GP Qualifying
4.45pm: Ted’s Qualifying Notebook
Sunday 3 September
7.10am: F3 Feature Race
8.15am: F2 Feature Race
12.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday: Italian GP build-up
2pm: THE ITALIAN GRAND PRIX
4pm: Chequered Flag: Italian GP reaction
5pm: Ted’s Notebook
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