Max Verstappen calmed down further on Friday as he topped practice time at the Belgian Grand Prix and dismissed concerns about starting Sunday’s race from the back of the grid. Red Bull’s world champion and series leader took a minute and 45.507 seconds to overtake Ferrari’s title rival Charles Leclerc by an eighth of a second to delight his ‘orange army’ of fans at the spectacular Spa-Francorchamps circuit. Best lap I’ve ever seen.
“We are very happy about it,” he said. “There’s not much to do or worry about with grid penalties – we were looking at setting up the car in the best possible way.
“Something has to be fine-tuned, but we are very happy with the first run and plan. The car is working well, which is positive, but we would have liked to run a little more.”
Both Verstappen and Leclerc are taking on new power-unit components, which take them beyond their allowed allocation for the season, and there will be grid penalties.
This means they will start from the back of the field with four other drivers who have opted to switch to new engines for the Belgian race weekend.
“I have to try and work from the back of the grid,” Verstappen said. “But at least we should have dry conditions. I think the weather was the worst today.”
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner explained why he chose this race to have a fourth engine, turbo-charger and other parts fitted, it was a strategic decision as the long and high-speed Belgian circuits provide easy overtaking opportunities .
“We looked at the calendar and we didn’t have options, but it’s a good track to overtake and we think we should be quick here,” he said.
In an inconclusive and slightly upturned day, Lando Norris was third for McLaren ahead of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and Carlos Sainz, who was fifth in a second Ferrari after topping early morning practice.
Seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton, who is chasing a sixth consecutive podium spot in Sunday’s race, was sixth in the second Mercedes for Mercedes ahead of two-time champions Alpine’s Fernando Alonso and George Russell.
Daniel Ricciardo, who announced on Wednesday that he would leave McLaren at the end of the year after agreeing to terminate his contract, was ninth at the second Red Bull and Sergio Perez 10th.
Hamilton said Mercedes believe they can recover from Friday’s disappointing performance and present a challenge again, especially if other drivers are taking penalties.
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“We’re not very quick and I don’t know why, but I went out and gave everything. It could be the tyres, the temperature or something,” he said.
“But it’s not disastrous there and we often find it on Friday and things can turn around on Saturday. I hope we can get round it.”
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