The remarkable Monza stat that Verstappen is confident he will end this weekend

Remarkably, Verstappen has never finished in the top three during his previous visits to Monza since 2015.

He got close in 2018, finishing third but was handed a five-second time penalty for causing a collision with Valtteri Bottas, dropping him to fifth.

The statistic also applies to Red Bull, with the team not finishing on the podium since their 1-3 finish in 2013 with Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber.

In the V6 hybrid era, Monza has been a difficult track for Red Bull given that it has often lacked engine power, particularly during their time with Renault.

Things have changed since moving to Honda power with the Japanese manufacturer’s power unit - now labelled as Red Bull Powertrains - is arguably the class of the field.

Verstappen was dominant at Spa-Francorchamps - a low downforce circuit like Monza - so many expect Red Bull to run away with the win this weekend.

Speaking about his poor record at Monza, Verstappen said: “I know why! We’ve always been slow on the straights. So you always know when you get here that’s its never going to be a good weekend. 

“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.”

Despite not often having the fastest car, Verstappen has built up an astonishing points lead in the championship.

He’s 109 points clear of Sergio Perez and Charles Leclerc, meaning he’s on course to win his second title at either Singapore or Japan.

Even with his huge points lead, Verstappen insists there’s still a lot of “stress” to get everything right.

“There’s always stress, well there’s always positive stress, I would say,” he added. “Because we always want to get the most out of the car and the package in general.

“In that sense, it’s similar, and it also doesn’t really matter if you are leading the championship or not, it depends what you are fighting for. You always arrive at the weekend wanting to the do the best you can, so naturally you are a bit stressed wanting to make sure everything works well.”