Red Bull needs luck to beat McLaren in Belgian GP

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen reckons he needs “a bit of luck” to challenge McLaren for 2024 Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix victory, despite the orange cars starting down in fourth and fifth.

For the third year in a row, Verstappen topped GP qualifying at Spa, but will drop down the grid again due to a penalty – this time, as in 2022, for an engine change.

This means Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc will start from pole on Sunday, ahead of Sergio Perez in the other RB20, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and the McLaren pair of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

After McLaren took a 1-2 in Hungary last time out, and with it being Red Bull’s closest challenger in the run of races up that event, Verstappen has picked Norris and Piastri as the biggest factors in him potentially failing to recover up the order to win at Spa, as he has managed despite his grid penalties in the last two years.

It has been suggested that a decision to focus on a lower-downforce set-up for Sunday’s predicted dry race was behind the McLaren drivers struggling more than in recent qualifying sessions on Saturday.

“We are not making it easy on ourselves and especially of course in the battle that we’re in,” Verstappen said of his Spa race chances around his grid penalty after climbing from his car in qualifying parc ferme. “I know that.

“Today was a great day, but it’s in the wet. We need to be quick in the dry tomorrow. 

“But it’s going to be a tough battle. We’ll try to do the best we can.

“Hopefully, we can battle with the Ferraris and the Mercedes ahead. And, if we have a bit of luck, maybe we can challenge the McLarens.”

Verstappen also said of Sunday’s race: “It’s going to be warmer, normally no rain. So, it’s all about tyre degradation and we just need to make sure we’re good on that.

“I know that I also have to start 10 places back, so this was the best I could do today. And then go from there.

“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.”