Rare moment: smiling Verstappen happy with second place in Italy

Max Verstappen was happy with second place after F1 qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix. The Dutchman came close to claiming pole position at Monza, but was not completely disappointed with just missing out on that.

Ferrari have been going well throughout the race weekend at Monza, and Carlos Sainz in particular has proved to be very fast. After being the quickest in the second and third free practice sessions, the Spaniard was also fastest in the all-decisive qualifying section. The Ferrari driver was 0.013s faster than Verstappen. However, the Red Bull driver was not disappointed after qualifying.

''It was good. We made some good improvements compared to yesterday. You could see every qualifying session was tight. I am happy to be in P2,'' said Verstappen. The Dutchman was booed by the Italian crowd, but is still positive about the Tifosi.

''It's nice to see (the fans).'' Yet on Sunday, Verstappen will only be happy with spoiling the Italians' party. 'Tomorrow, we will try to win the race because we usually have a quick race car,'' the Dutchman concluded.