Despite securing fourth place in Qualifying at the 2025 F1 Belgian GP, Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen expressed frustration over his RB21’s lack of pace compared to McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, who locked out the front row. While the result kept Verstappen within striking distance of the leaders, he faced significant challenges during the session, particularly with the car’s balance and grip. After the session, the Dutch driver spoke to the media, offering detailed insights into the issues his team faced and his outlook for the race.
Difficulties in Qualifying setup
Verstappen explained that Red Bull made specific setup changes prioritising race performance over qualifying speed. However, these adjustments failed to deliver the desired improvements during the crucial final Qualifying round.
“Well, I mean we opted a little bit of course looking ahead for tomorrow, but somehow also the balance didn’t really improve with that change and that’s a bit weird. Especially in Q3, the first set felt awful and then the second set we tried something else, and it just didn’t give me any grip starting the lap.”
He described how the grip issues immediately compromised his flying lap, resulting in significant wheelspin exiting the final corner and again through Turn 1, costing him valuable time.
“So, I already had a lot of wheelspin starting the lap out of the last corner and exactly the same happened out of Turn 1. I just lost like two turns on my own lap time already, which is of course not ideal.”
Despite the early setbacks, Verstappen noted that without the grip loss at Turn 1, his lap time could have been competitive with the McLarens. The team attempted to recover lost time as the lap progressed, but the initial deficit proved too costly.
“From there on we tried to catch up a bit on lap time, because without that problem in Turn 1 you look quite okay, you’re quite close to the McLarens, but of course overall it’s not been a very good Qualifying.”
Race prospects in unpredictable conditions
Looking ahead to the race, Verstappen offered a measured assessment of the challenges, particularly with Spa-Francorchamps’ notoriously unpredictable weather forecast, which suggests potential rain. Such wet conditions could severely impair visibility and car control, especially at the start.
“I think that will be tough,” he said, “I mean, first of all, if it’s wet you can’t see anything, so you can’t really do anything in Lap 1.”
He also acknowledged McLaren’s strength in wet conditions, noting their improved engine management and pace in the rain, which would make them even harder to challenge if the weather deteriorates.
“I hope that, of course, we can fight back to a podium, but normally in the wet conditions the McLarens are also very fast. They have that really under control now as well with how the engines are operating.”
Focus on car balance and realistic goals
In concluding, Verstappen emphasised the priority of resolving the car’s balance issues before pushing for higher ambitions. He stressed the need to maintain realistic expectations given the RB21’s current performance.
“So I’m not making any kind of illusion, we just need to be realistic, and we just need to work on our balance first of all.”
Verstappen’s comments underline the technical challenges Red Bull continues to face and the cautious approach the team is adopting as they prepare for the Belgian GP race under potentially tricky conditions.
