In the Formula 1 sprint, Max Verstappen was able to beat the two McLaren with his set-up, but the task becomes much more difficult for the race. Because in qualifying at the Grand Prix of Belgium, the world champion did not get fourth place. “Of course this is a little disappointing,” he has to admit. “But that’s the reality.”
With a rear wing, which was significantly steeply steeply, Verstappen was unable to repeat the performance of Friday and had to surrender to the two McLaren and Ferrari pilot Charles Leclerc.
“For some reason, my Q3 was just not good,” he quarrels. “The first tire set did not have the same grip – usually you can increase from Q1 to Q3, but that was not the case for me. In the second set we tried something, and unfortunately that went back completely,” said the Dutch.
Already from the first curve he had so much wheelspin that he could not take the performance of his Honda engine onto the street and lost almost two tenths. “The round had already run there,” he says. Bad luck for him: He was just 0.003 seconds on Charles Leclerc.
Verstappen struggles: Can’t push
The changed set -up with more downforce did not bring him the desired effect: “I actually hoped that it would improve the driving experience – maybe a little more air resistance, but better to drive. But that was not the case,” he says. “It just had more air resistance and the balance was wrong.”
“It was somehow strange,” he continues to notice. “We definitely have to take a closer look, because I had all the qualifying about the feeling that I couldn’t really push. And here in Spa you have to hang in full when you turn in. You want the car to rotate – and that is exactly what I couldn’t do.”
Video: F1 analysis: “Hamilton in the shadow of Leclerc”
But Verstappen admits that third place for him would have been the highest of feelings on Saturday. He could have packed Leclerc, the two McLaren not. On Oscar Piatri he lacked two and a half tenths of a second, another tenth of Norris on Lando Norris.
Stella: Spa is accommodating McLaren
The gap is surprising for some because Verstappen was able to drive to Pole on similar routes as Suzuka and Silverstone, but McLaren team boss Andrea Stella explains the differences: “Suzuka and Silverstone are part of a similar category as spa, but not quite,” he says.
“I think spa is dominated much more by medium -fast curves – a speed range around 200 km/h – and that is exactly the area in which McLaren is very strong,” he explains the reasons for the lead. “So there are certain similarities between the spa, Suzuka and Silverstone, but it is not identical.”
“I also think that Red Bull increased the output for the main race today. We don’t know whether the car really got faster – that could rather be related to the conditions that are expected tomorrow. I am not sure whether the car might be a bit slower for qualifying.” That was the case according to Verstappen.
Red Bull had put great hopes into an upgrade that affects the front wing, the front suspension, the air intake in the side box, the cladding at the rear and the winglets on the rear axle.
Verstappen is convinced that the improvements are going in the right direction, “but it is still not at the level at which I need it to really go to the limit,” he says. “I still have the feeling that the car prevents me from driving really quickly.”
“So third place is the maximum accessible”
For the race, he therefore expects to fight for third place – at least if it stays dry. “This time I think that my fight, whether dry or wet, will be with Charles. When I am being stopped, the McLaren is probably gone for ten seconds at the front,” he says. “We just have to aim at a podium – that’s realistic.”
What if it rains? “Of course, rain can always cause a little chaos, but then McLaren usually has a greater advantage,” he says. “So third place is the maximum achievable.”
Of course, you can refer to the Brazil race last year when Verstappen still drove to victory from far back, but at that time the circumstances were others, he says: “Unfortunately, McLaren found something in tire mining, and that has a much stronger effect when it rains.”
“Whenever we drove in the rain, we actually didn’t have a real chance. That won’t change suddenly tomorrow.” Because Red Bull has always had a little problems in the rain, even if it got better recently. But Verstappen mocks: “In any case, it couldn’t be much worse.”
Does it have to operate damage limitation?
So it sounds like a limitation of damage for the world champion, which threatens to lose ground in the World Cup. It is already 68 points ago, and the trend is rising. And if Red Bull McLaren cannot catch up, Verstappen can say goodbye to the fifth title.
But may there still be a chance that the car will come there, where it takes? “Hopefully a bit,” he says. “If we can at least get a little closer to the others. But that’s just the performance over a round. With the tire performance, they are still ahead of us – and if you have that, you are practically unbeatable.”
Except maybe in the sprint.