Max Verstappen's imperious form this season makes him the automatic favourite to win this weekend's Italian Grand Prix.
But the Dutchman will have to end a surprising trend to do so. For all the Red Bull star's dominance in 2022, his record at Monza is not one that will inspire too much confidence.
Verstappen has raced at Monza seven times during his Formula 1 career, six of them racing for his current team while the first was in his debut season with Toro Rosso. But despite having plenty of attempts, he has never once finished on the podium at the Italian Grand Prix.
In fact, his best result at Monza is fifth place, which he achieved in 2018 when he was bumped down from third after being slapped with a five-second time penalty. He might have bettered that record on his last two visits to the historic track, but failed to finish in either of them.
He qualified fifth for the 2020 race, but only completed 30 laps of the circuit before he suffered a power unit failure. And last year, he was in the contention for the win only to crash out in that much-publicised collision with title rival Lewis Hamilton at the Rettifilo chicane.
Given Verstappen's own struggles at this venue, Red Bull's record is also comparatively poor. Their last podium at Monza came in 2013, when Sebastian Vettel won the race and Mark Webber came third.
Asked about his personal struggles at Monza, Verstappen explained to reporters: "I know why! We've always been slow on the straights. So you always know when you get here that its never going to be a good weekend."
But the Dutchman is more confident about a strong showing this year. He added: "Besides that, a few technical issues here, and we always had to take engine penalties around here as well, so naturally, it's never going to be amazing. But now with the straight-line speed, it can be a completely different weekend for us."
He will be relying on that speed, given that he is expected to take a five-place grid penalty for this weekend's race due to an engine change. Meanwhile, Hamilton will be starting from the back of the grid as he too will be taking a series of new engine components.
