Lambiase puts McLaren on alert with Red Bull 'on top of it' claim

07:33, 06 Sep

Updated: 08:02, 06 Sep

byNorberto Mujica

Max Verstappen finished FP1 in P4, albeit more than half a second off the pace, and in FP2 despite placing P6, the Dutchman was able to close the gap to just under two tenths, which makes Red Bull Racing and the team's Head of Racing, Gianpiero Lambiase, confident ahead of the rest of the weekend in Monza.

Red Bull's Italian Grand Prix weekend could not be more different than any of the other race weekends they've had so far in 2025.

Whereas in previous races the Austrian team would appear to start every Friday on the backfoot in terms of setup, they have hit the ground running in Monza.

2025 Italian Grand Prix, nothing like the 2024 edition?

Speaking on the team's X channel, Lambiase provided a very positive debrief of how the first day of on track action had gone.

"So it was a very busy day here in Monza during both practice sessions. We were able to complete our programs as we intended. Both cars ran reliably so we've accumulated a lot of data," the British-Italian engineer began.

"Obviously a lot of work went into this weekend off the back of last year which wasn't quite as competitive as we would have liked," added Lambiase acknowledging the tricky situation in the 2024 Italian Grand Prix.

Last year in Monza, Red Bull experienced one of the toughest weekends they've had in recent times, which even prompted severe comments from star driver Max Verstappen.

The Dutchman, following the race last year stated the Austrian team had turned the most dominant car in history 'into a monster', which this year, Verstappenn himself has already stated it is not the case.

Red Bull look much more competitive in Monza this time around

He continued: "But this year we do look much more competitive. The cars are working in a really good window.

"We're on top of the tyres at this stage so there's no major dramas, but we are investigating further to try and improve matters to make sure we're on top of degradation as we need to be to to complete Sunday's strategy."

Nevertheless, despite the positive outlook, Red Bull and its Head of Racing eye further improvements to maximise the result across the weekend of racing on Italian soil.

"There are always a few tweaks that we're looking at on the setup particularly as we're running such a low downforce level stability is key.

"So we're trying to make the drivers even more comfortable to be able to attack those medium high-speed corners further," indicating there's still time to find for the Austrian racing outfit.

Verstappen and Marko were also positive after Friday in Italy

Verstappen, relaying his feeling after Friday, spoke in the same line as Lambiase, stating Red Bull seemed more competitive and indicating he was happy with his RB21.

The Milton Keynes-based team's Chief Advisor, Helmut Marko, was also quite confident following both Friday sessions, daring to make a rather bold prediction.