How Formula 1 World Champion Max Verstappen assesses Friday’s practice at Spa and why Red Bull are taking an engine penalty in Belgium of all places
Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc had to swallow for a moment on the radio after his team informed him of Max Verstappen’s fastest time. 1:45.507 minutes, that was “fast”, as Leclerc then admitted. Too fast for Ferrari: Leclerc, as Verstappen’s best pursuer, fell short by 0.862 seconds in Friday’s Formula 1 practice for the 2022 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa.
Likely also due to the large gap to the competition, Red Bull driver Verstappen speaks of a “good start” in Belgium and says: “Actually, I was happy with the car from the first try. The car worked well and that’s positive.”
However, Verstappen wasn’t just out for fast laps on Friday at Spa. That’s because he is one of the drivers who will be moved back on the grid due to surplus engine components. So if Verstappen wants to score well at Sunday’s Grand Prix, he will be forced to play catch-up.
Knowing about the impending penalty, however, “actually didn’t change that much” about his procedures in practice, Verstappen says. “We just looked at how we could set up the car in the best possible way. That worked pretty well from the start. And of course there are always a few little things you want to fine-tune. “
Why Red Bull are going for a reset
But if the Red Bull RB18 is doing so well, why is the team giving away key grid positions in the first place with the upcoming powertrain change? Red Bull team boss Christian Horner justifies this by taking a “strategic look at the race calendar” of Formula 1 and the need to follow up with fresh material at least once more with Verstappen.
“I think towards the end of the year it would have been tight with our existing powertrains. Especially when you consider the next courses,” Horner said.
He explains, “At Zandvoort, you don’t want to swap powertrains. At Monza, overtaking is much harder than you might think. In Singapore you don’t want to change engines either. And in Japan, overtaking is also difficult. That’s when you run out of options. “
Spa-Francorchamps, on the other hand, is a track where you can overtake “well”, Horner said, especially with top speed as good as Red Bull has had since the start of the season. “We expect to be fast here,” the team boss continues. “That’s why we and some other teams have decided to take this opportunity. “
Perez must be up front for Red Bull
Verstappen, in fact, is not the only driver to be moved back on the grid. His World Championship rival Leclerc will also start from the back of the grid on Sunday. Which in turn opens up opportunities for their respective teammates. Sergio Perez could thus become Red Bull’s spearhead at Spa.
Or as Horner puts it, “It looks like Carlos [Sainz] won’t get a penalty, neither will Mercedes. So that gives us two [different] races and that will be interesting. We might have two people at the front fighting each other. And then we’ll see how fast Max and Charles [Leclerc] go from the back to the front. “
Perez’s impressions of Friday practice at Spa
Perez himself, however, has made a less good start to the weekend than Verstappen. At 1.8 seconds behind the other Red Bull, he was only classified in tenth place. He “didn’t get into the rhythm today”, says Perez. “I think that was partly down to the weather as well.”
“We were out at exactly the wrong time, especially at the very end with the soft tyres. It was a bit damp by then. When you hit a wet patch like that, you quickly lose your balance. It’s hard to learn anything,” explained the Mexican driver.
Perez also complains about a “small problem” with the rear wing, but does not go into detail here. Only: this “problem” had cost him “a certain amount of time” because he was standing with his car in the pits when others were driving. “I couldn’t complete any laps, then it was too wet,” says Perez.
His conclusion: “We have to see what we can take with us. I think we looked good, competitive. But we just have to make sure we get everything spot on. “
