After qualifying se♋cond at Monza behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, Verstappen will drop five places on the grid afte🌳r taking a new ICE for this weekend.

It was a similar story at the Belgian Grand Prix, where Verstappen was 🤡hit with an engin𒈔e penalty but cut his way through the pack with ease, taking the lead on Lap 12 despite starting the race from 14th.

Russell predicted at Spa that Verstappen would win "comfortably" and he expects the Red Bull driver to do the same on Sunday at Monza.

“We’re not too focused on him”, Russell said. “It doesn’t matter what he does and what they do, they will finish ahead 🥂of us ultimately. 

“Probably be in the lead after 15 laps, maybe. I don’t t💯hink it’s as easy to overtake here as in Spa but with the pace t🦩hey’ve got, they will be slicing through.”

He added: "Got to be pretty st🍌upid to bet against it. He just needs to keep his nose clean in the first two laps and he’ll cruise to victory."

Russell qualified sixth at Monza but is expected to start the race from the front row, benefitting from Verstappen, Carlos Sainz, Sergio Pe🌸rez ꦅand Lewis Hamilton’s penalties.

Despite the str♌ong grid position, Russell admitted that the 1.4s deficit to Leclerc was “a bit shocking”.

“I think the session just ran away from us to be honest,” Russell 🐬added. “Q1 started off really well, a few tenths behind Ferrari and I thought that realistically we’d be three to seven tenths behind, but the 1.4[s} was a bit shocking. 

“Q3 was a bit of a mess 🦋and then we took a risk at the end, not running on a new set of tyres to save for tomorrow. I am glad that Lando or Fernando didn’t jump us because obviously that was the fight for se🍌cond place on the grid tomorrow. 

“I am not too disappointed but for our overall learning, it’s a bit of a shame we🎀 were so far off the pace.”

Looking ahead to Sunday’s race, Russell believes Mercedes shouldn’t compromi🐟se their own result by trying to fight quicker drivers such as Verstappen.

“I think we need to focus on ourselves," he explained. “We’ve seen, probably last week and in Budapest, that when we’re trying to fight with the cars that are ultimately faster than us we end up compromising our overall result. I’d like to t♐hink we can fight with Charles. 

“I think fighting with Max, no chance, they are far quicker than us. Trying to stay ahead of Checo and Carlos, who are obviously coming back from the field. A podium has got to be a minimum for us. I hope w🍒e can have a clean start and at least put up a bit of a fight.”