Confirmed: Max Verstappen to start from the back of the grid at Monza

Last weekend, both Alex Albon and Daniil Kvyat were fitted with the new Honda engine. In the Honda preview, boss Toyharu Tanabe confirmed the news. 

"We now go from one classic track to another, from Spa to Monza for the Italian Grand Prix, which is the last race in Europe this year. It is one of the highlights of the season and also the home race for one of our teams, Scuderia Toro Rosso," Tanabe said. 

"From a PU point of view, the main development is that we plan to run the Spec 4 PU with all four drivers for the first time after just Albon and Kvyat ran it in Belgium. For their first race with Spec 4, Gasly and Verstappen will, therefore, take grid penalties and start from the back of the grid, but we believe they can still race strongly on Sunday."

Running the new-spec PU at Spa enabled the team to gather details and data. Unlike Mercedes, who also introduced new-spec engines last weekend, Honda didn't experience any major issues. 

"We gathered useful data in Spa, which we have used to make changes to PU settings and calibration in preparation for this race. We will try to maximize the potential of Spec 4 and hope to get another positive result, maintaining the momentum we gained in Spa," the Japanse boss concluded.