The next stop on Max Verstappen's unstoppable march to back-to-back world titles is Monza, where he's a strong favourite to disappoint the locals by chalking up yet another win.

The Dutchman has firmly stamped his authority on the 2021 season, crushing any hope of a competitive title race by winning ten of this year's 15 races to open up a 109-point lead in the drivers' standings. 

The Red Bull racer has slipped into top gear either side of the summer break, rattling off four straight wins with his latest success coming on home soil at the Dutch Grand Prix. 

Having been the hero of Zandvoort last time out, Verstappen will be the villain of the piece in Monza, where the Ferrari fans will be out in force. 

However, no amount of passionate support from the Tifosi is likely to change the current course with Red Bull expected to excel at the lightening fast Monza. 

Rinse and repeat for Red Bull 

A favourite amongst the Formula 1 drivers, Monza's low-downforce, high-speed track has thrown up two surprise winners in the last two years. 

Daniel Ricciardo taking the chequered flag in 2021, while Pierre Gasly stood atop the podium 12 months earlier. 

Those two wins came out of the blue and it would take something special again to end Verstappen's win streak given the similarities this track shares with Spa-Francorchamps. 

A fortnight ago, Verstappen produced the most dominant drive of the season at Spa, coming from 14th on the grid to win the Belgian Grand Prix at a canter. 

The 24-year-old was lapping at a second a lap quicker than most of his rivals as he lead home a Red Bull one-two in Belgium and anything close to that kind of form will make them untouchable. 

Ferrari and Mercedes left clutching at straws 

There are very few glimmers of hope for the rest of the grid when it comes to stopping Verstappen but one of them is his winless Italian Grand Prix record with Verstappen failing to finish the last two editions of the race. 

The other positive for Red Bull's rivals is that Verstappen's team mate Sergio Perez is expected to take an engine penalty, potentially leaving him vulnerable to a two-pronged attack from Ferrari and Mercedes. 

But the truth of the matter is that Ferrari can not be trusted to put up much of a fight with Red Bull steadily pulling away from them. 

A podium was the least expected of Charles Leclerc in the Netherlands last weekend in a race where the Scuderia had been forecast to challenge Red Bull, only to fall short on race day. 

Throw into the mix the constant errors from the Italians, who bungled a Carlos Sainz pitstop at Zandvoort, and the outlook for their home race is not a bright one. 

Mercedes now appear the biggest threat to Red Bull now having come close to denying Verstappen last time out but their W13 car is not well suited to these types of tracks, while they have not won at Monza since 2018. 

The Silver Arrows do not expect performance to be as bad as Belgium, where Lewis Hamilton retired and George Russell was well off the pace in fourth, but a podium behind the Red Bulls could be the best they can hope for. 

Alpine out to spoil McLaren's Monza return 

Mercedes did manage to get close to Red Bull in this grand prix last year but with disastrous consequences as Verstappen and Hamilton's races ended in a scary collision. 

With those two out of the way, McLaren secured their first win since 2012 as Ricciardo lead home Lando Norris. 

A repeat of that outcome looks extremely unlikely with McLaren another car to suffer on these low-downforce, high-speed tracks, while Ricciardo is expected to change his power unit which would result in a grid penalty. 

McLaren's issues open the door to Alpine to record a third straight double points finish after some recent strong performances. 

Fernando Alonso has recorded ten straight top-10 finishes, including three top sixes in the last four races, while Ocon has scored points in his last five starts. 

With several midfield teams weighing up engine changes this weekend, the way looks clear for Alpine to double up again.