Verstappen finished second behind Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas in F1's second-ever sprint qualifꦰying 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 ᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚmeans Verstappen has extended his title lead over Hamilton to five points afte🐼r 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 ꦡgrid, 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 little bit of pace to really mount 🦩a challenge but I tried to s🌳tay in the tow a bit,” Verstappen said.

“From our side it was good, two points scored and starting first tomorro🍒w, 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 can do against them.”

Verstappen said he never felt he 🐟would have the 🍎chance to mount an attack on Bottas for the lead.

“Valtteri wa🐭s a b༺it up the road after one or two laps, but I never really felt like an overtake was on,” he explained.

“Just tried t𓃲o stay close and see where we can improve with the package,🍌 how their 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 crucial starting from pole will be, Verstappen replied: "If you get cleanly through Turn 1 and Turn 🤪2 it’s very good.

“It’s stil🅰l a decent run to Turn 1 but if you have a good start it should be enough to defend, let’s see tomorrow.”