Max Verstappen might have set the pace in qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix on a wet Saturday afternoon, but a grid penalty will keep him on the back foot going into the race.
With Red Bull taking a fifth engine of the season for Verstappen, he will drop from provisional pole to P11 on the grid on Sunday, leaving Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and Verstappen's team mate Sergio Perez on the front row.
But it's McLaren that will present the biggest threat to Verstappen at Spa, with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri set to line up in fourth and fifth place on the grid for the start of the race.
"I have to start ten places back, so this was the best I could do today," Verstappen told Billy Monger during the official media interviews in parc ferme.
“We are not making it easy on ourselves and especially of course in the battle that we’re in,” he admitted, adding: “I know that.
“Today was a great day, but it’s in the wet. We need to be quick in the dry tomorrow," he acknowledged. "It’s going to be a tough battle, but we’ll try to do the best we can and then go from there.
“Hopefully, we can battle with the Ferraris and the Mercedes ahead," he continued. "And if we have a bit of luck, maybe we can challenge the McLarens.
Verstappen had been quickest in first practice on Friday as well as beating Leclerc in the final round of qualifying by 0.595s, suggesting that the Red Bull has the edge over the field regardless or whether Sunday is wet or dry.
©RedBull
“It’s going to be warmer, normally no rain," was Verstappen's prediction. "So it’s all about tyre degradation and we just need to make sure we’re good on that."
Even before wet weather disrupted their prep this weekend, many teams admitted that they were struggling to get a good read on Spa this year, after the 7km circuit was resurfaced in the last 12 months.
Even Verstappen said it was hard to know what they would be able to do in race trim. “I don’t know how quick we’re going to be. I hope that we can be in the mix to try and move forwards.”
While Verstappen will start in the midfield, Perez succeeded in securing a front row spot for Red Bull despite only just making the cut at the end of Q2 by just 0.003s.
“It was very tricky at times,” Perez admitted. “In these conditions it's easy for it to go wrong, as it's been going in the last few qualifyings in these conditions.
“So it was good to finally put it together, but unfortunately we didn't have any new tyres for Q3 so we were a bit out of sync in Q2, and we were also quite lucky to make it in P10."
It's Perez' first front row start since China after a torrid run of recent qualifying performance that has been him under pressure to improve if he wants to keep his seat at Red Bull.
“Like I've always said, every weekend is a new opportunity to do better,” he said. "Tomorrow is an opportunity for us to do even better and go for that win.
“I think P2 is probably the best position you can wish for at Spa," he added, recalling last year's race when he passed Leclerc on the first lap. "Going to try to do the same [this time].
“It's a long race ahead of us, it looks like it's going to be dry, so we'll see," he continued. "I think degradation will be quite tricky, as well as graining.
“With this new tarmac I think there are a lot of unknowns still, but I've got a good feeling, so we'll see," he added.
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