Red Bull team boss highlights surprise: 'We did not expect that'

Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies has highlighted his surprise at being unchallenged by McLaren throughout the Italian Grand Prix.

Max Verstappen took his third win of the season at Monza on Sunday, converting his pole position into victory.

With a win margin of over 19 seconds to Lando Norris in second place, it marked the biggest deficit to the runner-up so far this year.

McLaren has often flexed its muscles over a race distance this season with 12 wins from 16 races, leaving Red Bull surprised by its superiority on Sunday.

“We did not expect that,” Mekies told the media, including RacingNews365. "It was good to be less than one tenth of a second ahead of McLaren in qualifying, that's what the picture was.

“But all our numbers were telling us that normally in the race, they have a bigger advantage than they have in qualifying.

“So we were expecting a defence race, and I was trying to work out a scenario on how to defend against these guys. 

“But ultimately we had a pace advantage.”

Verstappen 'has done an amazing job'

The victory was Red Bull's first since round seven at Imola and its first since Mekies took over the team principal role following Christian Horner's exit.

Mekies issued praise for the wider Red Bull team for its efforts to improve the car amid a challenging season, while also applauding Verstappen's abilities behind the wheel.

“Certainly, Max has done an amazing job, and it's a good sign after all the hard work put into the race pace when every weekend you get a difficult result on the race pace compared to your qualifying pace,” Mekies said.

“It's a lot of hard work from everyone in the factory.

“It seemed like we had an advantage compared to them, which is great.”