What McLaren have told their drivers ahead of Belgian GP

McLaren have told their drivers to “minimise trouble” on the first lap of the Belgian Grand Prix after locking out the front row of the grid.

Lando Norris pipped McLaren teammate and title rival Oscar Piastri to pole position by just 0.085s at in a tightly-contested qualifying at Spa-Francorchamps.

In the sprint race, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was able to slipstream past polesitter Piastri on the opening lap, with Spa’s long straights offering plenty of opportunity for overtaking action at the start.

With both McLaren drivers starting on the front row, a lap one battle is a likely prospect. While McLaren will not enforce team orders, the British squad expect Norris and Piastri to keep it clean in the early stages.

“I think both drivers will try, first of all, to have the fastest run through corner one,” McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said in his post-qualifying media briefing at the Belgian Grand Prix, where Crash.net are on the ground.

“I guess positioning for the one that will be in P2, positioning the car in order to be able to take the slipstream, will be potentially a decisive factor.

“I have to say that based on the weather forecast, this is not necessarily going to happen in dry conditions, so if it's wet it will be even more interesting, because Eau Rouge may not be easy flat, like it is nowadays on lap 1 in a Formula 1 car.

“At the same time, while you look ahead, you will have to look a little bit behind, because Ferrari has a significant speed advantage, so I wouldn't be surprised if Leclerc is actually leading the group at the end of lap 1.

“So there's certainly some planning that you can do, but ultimately you have to let the drivers make their own assessment, their own judgement.

“Certainly what I will tell the drivers is that lap 1 is just lap 1 of 44, and when you have such a good competitive car, you just have to make sure that we minimise the trouble during lap 1.

“And then if we execute the race in the best possible way, I think we will be in condition to regain the possibility to win the race, even if lap 1 doesn't go according to the outcome of qualifying.”

Norris, who trails Piastri by nine points in the championship, has won the previous two grands prix in Austria and Great Britain.

Wet weather is threatening the Belgian Grand Prix after heavy rain fell overnight and in the morning, leading to the cancellation of the Formula 3 race after being twice red-flagged.