Norris, who produced one of the most dominant victories of the season at the Dutch Grand Prix last weekend, cautioned against assuming McLaren would do the same at Monza despite locking out the front row.
“Honestly, when you look back to Zandvoort, you could say, yes, there is enough evidence to say we would have a very strong race – here less so,” he said.
“First and second normally translates into a quick race car, but there are more question marks about graining and degradation, and [I’m] a little bit more nervous about what could happen. But [I’m] in the best position for it.”
And McLaren team principal Andrea Stella pointed to Verstappen’s time on used tyres in the second session, which was just over 0.3secs from pole, as evidence that Red Bull were “strong” but that the balance had simply gone away from Verstappen in the final session.
Norris’ big concern is the start – he has failed to convert any of his three poles this year into a lead at the first corner.
He said: “You of course review things, and I feel like we have made progress so far with our practice launches – just crack on and do our best.”
Russell said: “If they make a good start, it will be difficult [to beat them].”
Russell’s team-mate Lewis Hamilton starts sixth, feeling he had given up a chance of being on the front row with a series of mistakes in qualifying.
The seven-time champion said: “It was just absolutely ridiculous from my side. Completely unacceptable. And it’s totally me. Nothing else. Nobody else.”
Hamilton has been struggling in qualifying all season – his style of braking late and attacking corners does not sit well with the current generation of cars, whose under-floor aerodynamics demand a less aggressive approach.
“I’ve got to find myself for qualifying somehow,” said Hamilton, who has taken victories in the British and Belgian Grands Prix. “My racing pace is great. I’ve just got to figure out how to get back to my old self.”
But Hamilton said he did not expect to be able to fight through the field to contest victory, saying his target was to get past the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, who qualified fourth and fifth, and contest for the podium.
The new track surface has left the teams and drivers expecting a race of unusual character.
In the past, Monza has been a race in which teams make only one pit stop, because it had a low-abrasion track surface, low tyre wear and a long pit lane, which increases stop time.
But the new surface has changed the character of the track and it is now much tougher on tyres. Teams will still want to try to do one stop, but higher tyre wear may force them to do two.