Max Verstappen says Red Bull's 🌼lack of performance in Formula 1 qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix is no cause for concern as he believes it’s down to the low downforce characteristics of the Monza circuit.

Verstappen 🐷was beaten by Carlos Sainz and Sergio ꦆPerez to third place behind the two Mercedes drivers meaning he is set to start Sunday’s race from fifth place.

FIA’s decision to restrict the usage of ‘party modes’🅰 was expected to bring the field closer to Mercedes, but the gap to the front seemed to be as large as normal with Verstappen qualifying nearly 0.9s off pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton.

Verstappen believes Red Bull’s lack🐻 of performance at Monza wasn’t simply down to a lack of engine power.

"We just didn't do a good job," Verstappen said. "Monza is a very special track, when we go back to a more normal layout, I expect us to be P3 again but it's still not good enough f🦹rom our side.

"The whole weekend we have been struggling a bit. I tried everything, tried all the wing levels that are possible to run at Mo🥃nza and at the end of the lap I was the same.

"It shows that when we are in low downforce, the car is still not where we want it to be, struggling a bit for ba🍒lance꧙ and grip in general. There are a lot of things to look into.

"It's eas🧜y to say we are down on powe🍸r but that's not an excuse."

Alb🔴on described his qualifying as a "mess", with the Thai driver set to start from ninth on Sunday.

"It was a mess," Albon added. " But to be honest I thought my laps weไre pretty good. It was just very crowded on the track. We'll see how it goes tomorrow."

"I don't think they h🦹ave caught up with us in terms of speed, but rather that their cars are better suited to this track. Every time we get to a circuit 👍where little downforce is needed they are very strong."