A Difficult Monza for Max Verstappen
It cannot be said that the qualifying Saturday of the 2026 Italian GP started particularly well for Max Verstappen. Not so much regarding the timing data, since the four-time world champion finished FP3 with the third-best time, three and a half tenths behind the session leader George Russell: more than the result – which in FP3 is inherently irrelevant for the rest of the weekend – Verstappen is actually struggling to fight with the top rivals on the long straights of the Monza track. So much so that he was the protagonist of a team radio that could rightfully enter the collection of the most memorable of the entire season.
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Fiery team radios during FP3
During the third and final free practice session, at one point Max Verstappen opened communications with his trusted track engineer Gianpiero Lambiase, as always at the pit wall, to complain about the low top speed of his RB22. He did it with his usual irreverent style that has now become a trademark: “Friend, I have less power than (what I would have if I drove) a Fiat Punto! I can’t do anything, I can’t even fight against everyone else.”
Not the only complaint from the Dutch champion during FP3: at the start of the session, in fact, Lambiase had congratulated him for a good lap, moreover done without any slipstream, triggering a sharp response from Max. “Yes, but it’s too slow – Verstappen replied – when you drive alone. I need a slipstream, you can see for yourself how much difference it makes. I have no power, I can’t stay close.” Shortly after, moreover, the four-time world champion was also involved in a wheel-to-wheel skirmish with Lewis Hamilton, precisely in an attempt to complete a final lap towed by Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari.
The reference power unit
In short, a weekend that despite the third place in FP3 was difficult and continues to be so, also considering the ninth place with which he finished Friday’s FP2 (he skipped the first session handing the wheel to young Ayumu Iwasa). All this alongside the confirmation by the FIA that, at the end of the second ADUO period, once again certified that it is precisely the Red Bull-Ford power unit, which powers Max Verstappen’s RB22, that is the reference engine in this 2026 Formula 1 season.
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