Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen finished fifth overall on the opening day of practice at the famous Monza Circuit in Italy on Friday, the Dutchman over a second off the pace set by Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas when the chequered flag came out on the second and final ninety minute free practice session of the day.
Despite some light rain 15 minutes before the end of the first session, Max managed to complete a total of 23 trouble free laps with a fastest time of 1:22.749 to finish in P6.
First out of the blocks in the second session, Verstappen completed another 34 trouble free laps to set the fifth best time of 1;22.409.
"We are more or less where we expected to be with the car,” he said after the session. “It is hard for us on this track with the long straights which we have to combine with a very low downforce setting so we just try to make the best of it."
"We will start the race a bit further back with the penalties but hopefully I can enjoy overtaking a good number of cars on Sunday. It makes sense to take the penalties here as this track is already not that good for us, Singapore is better for our car so we don't want to risk anything there."
