Verstappen Takes Italian GP P3 as Red Bull Lacks Straight-Line Speed

Q: What hidden mechanical flaw forced Verstappen into a defensive battle against Mercedes at the Temple of Speed?

The hidden mechanical flaw was a **rear-axle issue** on Verstappen’s Red Bull. Reporting from Monza said the problem surfaced in qualifying, hurting his pace after encouraging form in final practice and contributing to his lowly grid position. That left him more exposed in the race and helped turn Sunday into a defensive fight for the podium. That issue compounded the broader weakness Verstappen himself identified after the Grand Prix: Red Bull lacked straight-line speed and, crucially, energy deployment compared with Mercedes-powered cars. At Monza, where cars spend much of the lap flat-out and top speed is decisive, those shortcomings made it difficult for him to attack and forced him to defend against Mercedes. So while Verstappen publicly emphasized poor starts and deployment deficits as the main race limitations, the underlying weekend problem highlighted in coverage was the **rear-axle mechanical issue**, which undermined qualifying and set up the battle that followed at Formula 1’s “Temple of Speed.”

3 articles · Updated · BBC.com · Sep 6

Third-place finisher Max Verstappen called Red Bull's Monza podium "a very strong result" after ending the Italian GP behind two Mercedes-powered cars.
Straight-line weakness drove that assessment: Verstappen said Red Bull was slow on the straights and in energy deployment versus Mercedes-powered rivals, forcing him to attack in braking zones after poor starts.
Mercedes was "clearly too strong" at Monza, Verstappen said, making Red Bull's result more encouraging on a track that exposed its power deficit.
After a difficult weekend in Zandvoort, the P3 finish gave Red Bull a more positive reference point heading into the next races.