Max Verstappen telemetry data reveals huge gains over McLaren at Spa

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri finished P5 and P6 respectively in qualifying for the F1 2024 Belgian Grand Prix.

The McLaren drivers, who were strong favourites for victory in dry conditions, now see their chances diminished after a wet qualifying at Spa-Francorchamps.

Max Verstappen puts McLaren to the sword

After a solid Friday in dry conditions, McLaren struggled in Q3 in the Belgian rain. The Papaya team was beaten by Red Bull, Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton. The latter two drivers were underdogs in the betting, but the rain gave them a great opportunity to alter the grid order.

The big beneficiary of the rain was Red Bull and, in particular, Max Verstappen. The Dutchman made the difference at one of his favourite circuits and minimised damage for tomorrow’s race, where he will start 11th. Thanks to saving a set of intermediates in Q1, Max had a big advantage in Q3.

Verstappen was able to set a time on an intermediate tyre at the first attempt in Q3. Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, meanwhile, used two sets of intermediates in Q1 and so started Q3 on a set of used tyres.

The track worsened due to more water on the second attempt. Although there was not substantial rain, this prevented many drivers from improving their lap times, especially in Sector 2.

Added to this factor was the incredible performance of the RB20 with its aero efficiency on the straights and high speed corners performance.

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In fast corners, Max registered the best numbers of the qualifying session. Just in the succession of turns 10-11 – Pouhon – Verstappen had in his hands 6km/h more minimum speed than Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri which is an estimated advantage of 0.4s-0.5s just in those two corners alone.

If we compare the telemetry between Verstappen and Norris we can see that this was the real point of difference between Red Bull and McLaren. Also at the Les Combes chicane, Verstappen had better traction which allowed him to gain approximately two tenths over Norris.

In terms of top speed, after testing a low downforce set-up yesterday, Max Verstappen reverted to a less aggressive front wing, as did Sergio Pérez. Red Bull have found the ideal balance between straight-line speed and cornering performance.

McLaren chose to give Lando Norris a more aero loaded set-up and to go for a more race-focused dry setting, with less load on Saturday for Oscar Piastri. Mercedes has done the same with Lewis Hamilton and George Russell.

All in all, the rain has been very detrimental to McLaren’s chances of victory for the race. The Papaya team, as we saw in Friday’s data, had everything in hand to secure at least a top three finish with their two drivers.

And with Verstappen’s 10 place grid penalty, they were in a great place for a 1-2. Instead, they will have ‘out-of-position’ cars to overtake on track such as Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc who should drop places quickly against both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

Meanwhile, the rain has been a great friend to Max Verstappen and Red Bull. With a great performance from the Dutchman and Sergio Perez, who got in ahead of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, they will start in a better scenario than they possibly imagined to be able to fight for the victory against McLaren – despite Max’s penalty.

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