Max Verstappen makes McLaren rear wing observation in Spa pace assessment

McLaren driver Lando Norris enters Eau Rouge in Belgian Grand Prix qualifying

Max Verstappen is hoping his Red Bull RB20’s high-downforce rear wing will pay dividends in Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix after McLaren’s “very skinny” solution caught his eye.

Verstappen was fastest of all in a rain-affected qualifying session at Spa on Saturday, but will start 11th as he serves a 10-place grid penalty for taking a new engine.

McLaren rear wing catches Max Verstappen’s eye ahead of Belgian GP

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc will start from pole position alongside Verstappen’s Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez, with Lewis Hamilton third for Mercedes.

McLaren, widely tipped as the favourites to win the Belgian GP after Verstappen’s penalty was confirmed, will start fourth (Lando Norris) and fifth (Oscar Piastri) after struggling in the rain-affected session.

Teams often face a tricky setup dilemma at Spa, with some electing for a low-downforce setup to maximise straight-line performance and others choosing a bigger rear wing to help tyre management.

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The decision has been further complicated in F1 2024 by the new track surface at Spa, which caused higher-than-expected tyre degradation in Friday’s dry practice sessions.

Speaking to media including PlanetF1.com in the post-qualifying press conference, Verstappen revealed he elected for the larger rear wing he originally trialled in FP1 having felt more comfortable with a high-downforce setup.

And he believes the tyre management benefits of his choice could be crucial as he aims to challenge the McLarens,

He said: “I felt a bit more confident and comfortable on the FP1 wing, so I hope that that is also going to be the case tomorrow.

“Tomorrow is a bit warmer as well, so naturally probably a bit more sliding. I just hope that it’s better for me.

“But when you look at the McLaren, for example, they run a very skinny wing. Seems to work for them, but it didn’t really work for me yesterday, so a bit of a different strategy also there.

“And I guess we’ll find out tomorrow how it will work out. I have to pass cars. The DRS effect is quite big around here, but at the end of the day I think it’s more important just to be good on tyres around here.

“Because if you’re good on tyres, you can pass people.

“We run a bit more downforce, so for sure that is good for today. One lap pace is of course important, but it’s more important to be good on the tyres tomorrow.

“I feel like most of the last [few] qualifying [sessions], we have been quite close over one lap, even when I was still not entirely happy with the car or the balance, but then in the race sometimes there have been bigger differences for me.

“So it’s important that tomorrow we are good on tyres and competitive as well.”

Verstappen has overcome grid penalties to win at Spa in each of the last two seasons, triumphing from 14th on the grid in 2022 and sixth last year.

With Red Bull winning just three of the last eight races in F1 2024, the reigning World Champion is expecting Sunday’s race to be a very different challenge.

He said: “Of course, I don’t expect it to be like the last two years, naturally, looking at the cars around us being quite quick.

“So we’ll just try to move forward, try to fight Ferraris, Mercedes, and with a bit of luck, maybe the McLarens, but it all depends on our pace ourselves.

“[My plan is to] survive lap one and just go from there. We also have a bit of a different tyre strategy to the other cars, so we have to wait and see how that will evolve in the race, but we’ll see what we can do.

“I’m not as confident as I was the last two years around here in coming back to the front. I still see it more as a damage limitation race. That’s how it is. But at least today was the best possible we could do in terms of the starting position for tomorrow.”

Verstappen admitted that McLaren “look very comfortable” in dry conditions at Spa having produced “incredibly strong” long runs in Friday practice, admitting he would settle for matching the pace of Norris and Piastri on race day.

He said: “Looking at their pace yesterday in the long run, it’s incredibly strong. They look very comfortable out there.

“Of course, they are starting a little bit further back, I think they’re so fast they will quite quickly challenge for the front, for the lead. And it also depends a bit, of course, how I get through lap one and stuff.

“But I would already be happy if we can match that race pace. So starting a bit further back, also being on different tyres, I don’t know how that is going to work out.

“Most teams around us have two hard tyres, we don’t. I don’t know if that’s better or not, of course, for the moment, but we’ll find out tomorrow, but it’s definitely still damage limitation.”

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