Verstappen finished second behind Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas i💎n F1's second-ever sprint qualifyജing race at Monza but inherits pole with the Finn set to drop to the back of the grid after taking a penalty for moving onto a fresh power unit.

The result means Verstappen has extended his🦹 title lead over Hamilton to five points after his main championship rival could only finish fifth after being shuffled down the order following a poor start.

Seven-time world champion Hamilton has predicted Verstappen will score an “easy” victory with the McLaren pai༒r separating the two title protagonists on the grid, but the Dutchman still remains wary of the pace of the Mercedes drivers.

“It was a good day for us, good start and from there onwards I tried to follow Valtteri around ev💫en though in ﷽general we lacked a little bit of pace to really mount a challenge but I tried to stay in the tow a bit,” Verstappen said.

“From o♈ur side it was good, two points scored and starting first tomorrow, so I don’t expect it to be a straightforward and easy race, Valtteri coming from the back, Lewis P4 t💯hey have a lot of pace, so we’ll see what we can do against them.”

Verstappen said he never felt he would have the chance t🐬o mount an attack on Bottas for the lead.

“Valtteri was a bit up the road after one or two laps, but I never really fওelt like an overtake was on,” he explained.

“Just t📖ried to stay close and see where we can improve with the package, how their car runs over kerbs, cornering speeds and stuff. All the🐲se kinds of things.

🅘"But yeah I also knew of course even if 😼I stayed second I start first tomorrow.”

Asked how crucial starting from pole will be, Ve𝔍rstappen replied: "If you get cleanly through⛎ Turn 1 and Turn 2 it’s very good.

“It’s still a decent ru🍨n to Turn 1 but if you have a good start it should be enough to defend, let’s see tomorrow.”