Red Bull sacrifices Verstappen’s top-speed advantage for wet F1 Belgian GP

Red Bull Formula 1 team boss Laurent Mekies says his squad has “significantly” increased its downforce levels to be more competitive if Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix turns out wet.

Red Bull took a sprint race win with Max Verstappen in the dry on Saturday, as a low-downforce set-up allowed the world champion to pass polesitter Oscar Piastri on the Kemmel Straight and then made it impossible for the McLaren driver to reclaim the position.

The decision for a lower-wing setting was felt to be the best compromise for Spa-Francorchamps and its variety of corners and straights, with a higher-downforce setting costing it too much time on the straights.

But, with the threat of rain a realistic prospect for Sunday, the Milton Keynes squad opted to pile on the downforce for qualifying, which meant Verstappen lost his straightline advantage.

While Verstappen enjoyed a 4km/h top speed advantage in sprint qualifying, telemetry now shows that he and the McLarens reached similar top speeds in qualifying for the actual grand prix as the reigning world champion qualified fourth, three tenths behind polesitter Lando Norris.

That compromise will make it hard for Verstappen to repeat his sprint race heroics, too, but if rain does persist it will be worth it.

“Tomorrow, obviously, everything is a big reset and we’ll see what the weather is like,” Mekies told F1TV.

“I don’t think we are begging for [rain], but we’ve made quite a few choices on the car thinking that tomorrow we’ll get a bit less grip compared to now. Obviously, we have increased our downforce significantly.

“In that context, I think the rain is probably the best chance we have to reduce further the gap to McLaren.

“But, if it’s dry, we will take that as well, it will still be a big tyre management game, even in the dry.”

As track temperatures ramped up in Q3, few drivers were able to improve on their Q2 times, and Verstappen also noted a loss of grip before sliding out of La Source on his final lap, a slip-up that allowed Leclerc to pip him for third on the grid by 0.003s.

“The Q3 laps certainly felt a little bit more difficult to extract everything from the car, the balance a bit less together,” Mekies explained.

“There were some serious improvements corner to corner, but I think the gap to McLaren is probably fair.

“Obviously, a bit frustrating to be beaten by Charles for a few thousands, but it’s part of the game.

“Overall, the gap is what it is; two to three tenths to McLaren. I think it’s reflecting the reality and we’ll fight from there tomorrow.”

Team advisor Helmut Marko wasn’t overly bothered by Verstappen’s fourth grid slot either, hoping the four-time world champion’s prowess in the rain will make it irrelevant.

“Max didn’t have grip in either of his runs; maybe the tyre pressure wasn’t quite right – he had a real slide in Turn 1, and again in Turn 5, so we could’ve been closer,” the Austrian told ORF.

“But we’re expecting rain tomorrow, so it’s not a disappointment. We’re focused on the race and there we’re optimistic. I don’t see a big issue [with being beaten by Leclerc].”