In the round-up: World championship leader Max Verstappen downplays prospect of repeating his emphatic Belgian Grand Prix victory in the coming weeks
In brief
Next tracks “might be a little bit more difficult” – Verstappen
Verstappen expects a harder job to win in the next races on the Formula 1 schedule, despite his most recent success coming from 14th on the grid.
The Red Bull driver dominated qualifying and the race at last weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix, but Red Bull fitted a fourth internal combustion engine, turbocharger, MGU-H and MGU-K to his car during the event, exceeding the tally of three of each permitted for use in a season, and so he started 14th following the application of grid penalties.
That he already led by lap 12 at Spa-Francorchamps showed the level of dominance Red Bull were capable of. But Verstappen anticipates a greater challenge than he had in Belgium to win in the races ahead.
“I think our car is very efficient. This track [Spa] I think suits it perfectly, maybe,” he said. “So I know that some tracks which are coming up might be a little bit more difficult; then I expect again a good battle with Ferrari. It was just that this track seemed to be perfect for the car.”
McLaren fastest in straight line yet struggle in DRS – Norris
Lando Norris has posed another conundrum about McLaren’s pace in the Belgian GP, saying his car was one of the fastest in a straight line yet was being bettered by rivals at the highest speeds on straights.
“I think we were probably one of the quicker ones on the straights. Where we lose a lot is in DRS,” he explained.
“For some reason, in DRS we’re pretty shocking. Some cars are a lot better than others. In a pure straight line condition I think we were quicker than Red Bull.
“But then the Red Bull opens DRS and gains somehow like another 15kph and is in a complete different league to a lot of people. So there’s something where we’re maybe missing with DRS, maybe that makes our overtaking opportunities less than other people. But in a straight line, we were probably one of the quickest this weekend.”
Magnussen eager for Zandvoort return
Three drivers on this year’s F1 grid are yet to race on the updated version of Zandvoort and Haas’s Kevin Magnussen will be the least familiar with the track going into first practice on Friday.
Zhou Guanyu and Alex Albon last visited the circuit in the old FIA European Formula 3 championship in 2018 and 2015 respectively, while Magnussen has…
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