Max Verstappen plays down Red Bull’s straight-line speed in fight with McLaren

Max Verstappen doubts Red Bull’s straight-line speed advantage will allow them to fight with McLaren in the F1 sprint race at the Belgian Grand Prix.

Verstappen will start Saturday’s sprint race at Spa-Francorchamps from second on the grid.

The Dutchman’s deficit to Oscar Piastri was nearly five-tenths in sprint qualifying.

Red Bull opted to run a low downforce setup, with Verstappen having nearly a 0.2s advantage over the McLarens in the first sector alone.

This means Verstappen should have a good opportunity to overtake Piastri on the opening lap of the sprint race.

Verstappen feels McLaren’s advantage is too great for his straight-line speed to make a difference.

“I mean when you’re almost five-tenths off I don’t think going faster or slower on the straights is going to matter a lot,” Verstappen said on Friday.

“We need to do our own race and see what we can do.”

Verstappen was pleased to split the McLarens, with Lando Norris set to start the sprint race one place behind in third.

The four-time world champion conceded that the deficit to Piastri wasn’t a “big surprise” after FP1.

“Being P2 between them is already a good result for us. I do think we maximised it. I enjoyed it out there,” Verstappen explained.

“The lap itself was fine. It was good. Of course, the gap is very big but it’s been very big since FP1.

“It’s not a big surprise. We just have to focus on ourselves and working on the balance of the car, try to go faster.”

Verstappen on Red Bull upgrades

Red Bull continue to upgrade the RB21 heading into the second half of the year.

Verstappen admitted that getting a true read on the new parts was difficult after just one practice session.

However, Verstappen delivered a positive initial verdict.

“I guess so, yes,” he said of the upgrades.

“It’s always difficult in a sprint weekend to say what exactly they do, of course, but when you look at the gaps it’s not what we want.

“If we keep improving, trying to find my performance but others do the same thing. That’s just how it goes.”