Lewis Hamilton expects Max Verstappen will be a strong challenger for victory in tomorrow’s Belgian Grand Prix despite the Red Bull driver’s relegation to 11th on the grid.
Verstappen was the class of the field in a rain-affected qualifying session which he topped by almost six tenths of a second. He will start 11th due to his penalty for taking a new power unit this weekend.
The Red Bull driver has won the last two Belgian grands prix despite taking grid penalties. Hamilton, who will move up to third on the grid as a result of Verstappen’s penalty, expects to see the Red Bull race to the front tomorrow.
“Max will make his way through pretty quick,” Hamilton told the official F1 channel. “I think that car is the fastest here this weekend, or at least tied with McLaren.”
Hamilton will start the race behind pole winner Charles Leclerc and Verstappen’s team mate Sergio Perez.
“For us, we’re just going to keep our head down and try and hold position,” he said. “I’m going to try and see if I can keep up with the guys that are ahead of me. But I’ll give it everything.”
Mercedes lagged off the pace on Friday as a new floor they introduced for their car did not behave as expected. They removed it from their car today and Hamilton said he is happier with his car’s balance.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
“I’m hoping the changes we made will be better for tomorrow,” he said.
Although Hamilton was largely pleased with his performance in qualifying, he believes he could have done better had he used his only remaining new set of intermediate tyres later in Q3.
“It was generally a good session,” he said. “I think we tried to predict the weather as best we could and be out on track at the perfect times.
“Utimately you look at it and say there’s certain areas, like for example the last round we were the first out. We were out too early and then also we didn’t have another set [of new intermediates], which the others did.
“But otherwise, I’m pretty sure the three guys ahead of me were all on new tyres, otherwise I’m really happy with it. I think we worked as hard as we could and that’s the best we could get.”
Miss nothing from RaceFans
Get a daily email with all our latest stories – and nothing else. No marketing, no ads. Sign up here:
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
2024 Belgian Grand Prix
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at RaceFans…