Verstappen finished second behind Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas in F1's second-ever sprint qualifying 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 pair 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 even though in general we lacked a littl🐽e bit of pace to really mount a challenge but I tried to stay in the tow a bit,” Verstap𓆏pen said.

“From our 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 they have a lot of pace, so we’ll see what we ca⛦n do against them.”

Verstappen said he never felt he would have the chance to mount an attack o♚n Bottas for the lead.

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

“Just tried to stay close ꦅand see where we can improve with the package, how t✅heir car runs over kerbs, cornering speeds and stuff. All these kinds of things.

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

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

“It’s still a ൲decent run toᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚ Turn 1 but if you have a good start it should be enough to defend, let’s see tomorrow.”