McLaren were blisteringly fast in Sprint Qualifying at Spa-Francorchamps as Oscar Piastri set the pace and went nearly half a second quicker than Max Verstappen.
The Red Bull driver split the McLarens, which should help him challenge the British team over the 100km long Sprint on Saturday.
Verstappen opted for a lower downforce setup at Spa-Francorchamps, which enabled the Dutchman to be very quick on the straights of sectors one and three, but came at a price in the middle sector.
Sector 2 is home to Rivage and Pouhon, which require good stability, and is where the McLarens set the benchmark in qualifying for the Sprint.
Verstappen conceded that the lap was a good effort despite the significant margin to Piastri. He said via the official F1 website: “Being P2 between them, I think, is a really good result for us, and I do think we maximised.
“I enjoyed it out there, the lap itself was fine, was good. Of course the gap is very big but it’s been big already from FP1 so that’s not a big surprise. We just have to focus on ourselves and work on the balance of the car, try to go faster.
“When you’re almost five tenths off I don’t think going faster or slower on the straight is going to matter a lot. We just have to do our own race and see what we can do.”
Verstappen plays down impact of the high top speed
Verstappen went with a lower downforce setup at Spa-Francorchamps, which could allow the Red Bull driver to attempt overtakes more easily if the opportunity arises.
Despite this potential advantage, Verstappen doesn’t feel that a higher top speed will play a significant factor across the Sprint in Belgium.
He said: “When you’re almost five tenths off I don’t think going faster or slower on the straight is going to matter a lot. We just have to do our own race and see what we can do.”
Image credit: Red Bull Content Pool
