Ferrari is predicting another strong showing from Red Bull at this weekend’s Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen dominated the Belgian Grand Prix last month, rising from 14th on the grid to head a one-two from team-mate Sergio Perez.
That performance was chalked up to the Spa-Francorchamps circuit playing to the strengths of the Red Bull RB18.
By contrast, Ferrari struggled for more than single lap pace.
Third placed Carlos Sainz was slipping towards George Russell in the closing laps in Belgium while a desperate move from the Ferrari pit wall saw Charles Leclerc drop to sixth in the final classification.
With Monza sharing key characteristics with Spa-Francorchamps, another difficult weekend is on the cards.
“A bit, yeah; I’m not going to lie,” Sainz admitted when asked if he was nervous heading into this weekend’s race.
“After Spa, if there is a track similar to Spa with similar configurations, it’s Monza. And we know they are going to be strong there, it’s another track that should suit them.
“But this doesn’t mean that we can’t react from Spa and at least make their life a bit more difficult.
“Wins can still happen in different ways,” he added.
“You might not be the fastest but you might find a way to make it around and win, so we’re going to give it our best shot.”
Leclerc is also expecting a similarly challenging weekend.
“It’s going to be a bit of a difficult weekend – on paper at least it is going to be a difficult weekend,” he said.
“We expect Red Bull to be stronger. The track characteristics doesn’t fit exactly our car, but again, I mean we’ve had some good and bad surprises this year.
“Hopefully this one is one of the good ones and that we overperform compared to what we expect.”
The key to Red Bull’s advantage in Belgium was its straight-line speed.
While Ferrari has shown strong pace around the corners, it played second best to the Milton Keynes operation down the straights for much of 2022.
In Belgium, that allowed Verstappen and Perez to carry more rear wing, which saw it match Ferrari on the straights while pulling clear in the twist middle sector – all the while putting less stress through their tyres.
“We are a slower down the straights; their main strength this year are the straight-line speeds,” Leclerc observed.
“We seem to be a bit quicker in the corners, but in tracks like here, it’s not enough to gain back the advantage that they have on the straight.
“So compared to Red Bull, I think this will be the case this weekend.”
Opening practice for the Italian Grand Prix begins today from 14:00 local time (22:00 AEST/08:00 ET).
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