He might be fully recovered from the flu that compromised his home race, but Max Verstappen could face a relapse this weekend.

Though it didn't have anything to do with his first lap crash, the Dutchman was clearly under the weather at Zandvoort, but on arriving in Monza he appeared fully recovered.

"Yeah, I was very ill," he told reporters. "But actually, once you're fully healed, you appreciate again how good it is to feel like that. Because the whole weekend in Zandvoort was awful and even after Zandvoort for a few days, I was still not good.

"So it was actually really nice to have that week to recover and feel better again. Because it's been a very long time that I felt like that."

Asked if the crash had made him feel even worse, he replied: "I felt good in terms of the impact because it was the SAFER barrier. That was the first time I hit that and actually it did its job really well."

However, the Dutchman admits that this weekend could once again leave him feeling the weather.

Way back in 2023, Verstappen was warning about the issues the 2026 rules overhaul presented, and in particular Monza, predicting that drivers would need to downshift on the Autodromo's various straights.

Though he has eased off on his criticism of late, probably following a word from upstairs, the Dutchman fears a tough weekend, especially for him and his team.

"It's going to be pretty painful," he said. "This track is very energy inefficient, but I don't want to be too negative about it all. It is what it is. I have accepted it mentally.

"I prepared for a weekend where it will be a bit different," he added. "You cannot push flat-out and you have to be gentle with the throttle pedal, let's call it like that."

It is feared that the opening lap will witness the sort of yo-yoing witnessed at Spa and several other tracks.

"Changes are being made to try and make it better," said the four-time world champion, "but better doesn't mean that it's fixed. It's far from fixed.

"Everyone is trying to do the best they can," he added, "the FIA and F1, they are all trying to deal with the current situation.

"On the inefficient tracks, we've not been particularly great with energy, so I don't expect miracles here," he said of his own chances. "It will be tough.

"Other teams around us are bringing upgrades at the moment, so they are making steps forward. We were already behind before that, so I don't expect that to change now. But we just try to learn more about the car and the things that we want to do different for next year as well.

"It will be, I think, quite a tough experience for everyone, how to manage the entry run and out," he warned. "How much you can actually push to pass someone, I don't know."