Max Verstappen arrives at Monza with one major concern firmly behind him after revealing that a week of recovery has restored his health following a miserable Dutch Grand Prix weekend.
The Red Bull driver endured flu-like symptoms throughout his home event at Zandvoort, leaving him far from his physical best even before his race came to a premature and spectacular end in the opening-lap crash.
With a full week between the Dutch and Italian Grands Prix, however, Verstappen says he has finally returned to feeling like himself again.
Back to full strength
The four-time world champion had already been struggling physically at Zandvoort, and his retirement after the heavy first-lap accident only compounded what had been an unpleasant weekend.
Speaking to the media at Monza on Thursday, Verstappen explained that the impact itself was not a concern, but his illness had made the entire event particularly difficult.
“I felt good in terms of the impact because it was a safer barrier, so that was the first time that I did that. Actually, did its job pretty well, but I was very ill,” the Dutchman said.
The recovery, meanwhile, took longer than Verstappen initially might have hoped, with several days passing after Zandvoort before he was back to normal. The benefit of having a full week before Monza therefore proved invaluable.
“You appreciate once you’re fully healed, how good it is to feel like that because the whole weekend at Zandvoort was awful.
“Even after Zandvoort for a few days, I was still not good, so it was actually really nice to have that week to recover and feel better again because it’s been a very long time that I felt like that.”
Red Bull keeping expectations in check
Physically reset, Verstappen now turns his attention to a very different challenge at Monza, where Red Bull will need to unlock the performance of its RB22 around the Italian circuit’s unique combination of long straights and heavy braking zones.
The four-time world champion is refusing to make any grand predictions, though, insisting Red Bull must first establish where it stands before dreaming of another competitive weekend.
Verstappen also expects energy management to present a particularly complicated puzzle at the high-speed venue.
“We need to be realistic, where we are at the moment as a team and how we're performing. Just try to have a good weekend,” he said.
“I know it's already going to be very complex with the energy around here, 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, we just need to be realistic.”
Read also: Hadjar sidelined for Monza as injury healing continuesRed Bull will once again field Liam Lawson alongside Verstappen, with Isack Hadjar still recovering from the wrist injury sustained during the summer break.
Hadjar’s continued absence also means Yuki Tsunoda will get another opportunity with Racing Bulls alongside Arvid Lindblad.
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