Lammers sees opportunities for Renault: ''Verstappen already had to fight for P3''

Renault on the first row of the grid in Monza?

According to Red Bull Racing top man, Helmut Marko, the team had gone into the fog at Spa-Francorchamps. Too much thought had been given to the chance of rain, which meant that with the extra downforce on the car, speed was lost on the straight. Was this the reason Renault was so close to Verstappen or is there more going on?

''I hope that was the difference'', says Jan Lammers in conversation with GPblog.com. ''In qualifying you already saw that Max had to fight hard for his third place, but if Renault can continue this performance I wouldn't be surprised if they are on the second or maybe even the first row of the grid at Monza", says the former Formula 1 driver.

Starting from the Grand Prix at the historic Monza circuit, qualifying mode will also be abolished. This means that the teams will only be allowed to put the engine in one position during the F1 weekend and will no longer be able to open it for the important moments. A rule that, according to Lammers, is not going to have much effect.

Mercedes means on Friday

''I don't expect much of that. I feel more like Mercedes is conservative on Fridays and does not drive faster than necessary to save the engine. Nowadays these engines have to go for a certain period of time and Mercedes doesn't want to burden them more than necessary''. According to the sports director of Zandvoort, we shouldn't expect miracles at Monza.

''It's much more a question of Mercedes never opening the engine fully on Fridays and Saturday mornings. They only screw up in qualifying and are only at the maximum in Q3. Other teams will do that sooner, because a Williams sponsor, for example, would like to be higher in free practice. Then they can make a good job of it'', concludes Lammers versus GPblog.com.

In collaboration with Corwin Kunst