Pérez Wary of Victory Odds at Dry Spa

Verstappen questions his speed in dry conditions after a wet qualifying, while Pérez remains cautious about his chances at Spa.

Max Verstappen set the fastest time in qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix, but due to a penalty for an engine change, the Red Bull driver will start 11th. He praised the session’s good pace and execution.

“It was a good qualifying. Luckily, the weather held up; it rained a bit but we could complete the session. Every time we went out, we managed a good lap. We were thinking about Q3, unsure if it would dry up and wanted to keep two sets of new tyres,” declared the triple world champion.

“Fortunately, we got through Q1 and Q2 so I’m very pleased; the car worked well in the rain and I managed my laps. Tomorrow will be a different day, no rain and it will be warm so there will be degradation.”

“We need to make sure we’re good on that because we’ll have a ten-place penalty. This was the best I could do. I don’t know if we’ll be fast, but we’ll try to be to move up.”

The Dutchman is aware that his starting position exposes him to greater risks: “The race can be lost at the first corner, we’ll have to see what happens at the start and I’ll continue from there. The race will be long and tough on the tyres, we’ll try to be competitive tomorrow and climb up.”

The big question remains how the cars will perform in the dry: “We’re not making it easy for ourselves. We were fast today in the rain but we need to be fast in the dry as well. We’ll try to do our best and pass the Ferraris and Mercedes ahead, and if we get a bit lucky, we’ll try to contend with the McLarens.”

Sergio Pérez thus secured the third fastest time but will start on the front row tomorrow: “It was very tricky at times. In these conditions, it’s always easy to make a mistake, as we’ve seen in the last few qualifiers in such weather. So, it’s good to succeed this time,” said the Mexican.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t have new tyres for Q3, we were a bit out of sync in Q2 and just made it to tenth so we were lucky to get through. The second place is the one we prefer at Spa, it was the same with Charles last year. The race will be long and it’ll be dry, so we’ll see.”

It’s been a while since he qualified this well, and Pérez now hopes to capitalize in the race: “As I’ve always said, every weekend is an opportunity to do better, and tomorrow is an opportunity to do better than today and go for the win.”

Asked about his chances of victory, he remains cautious: “We’ll see, the race will be long, degradation will be tricky, there will be graining. With this new asphalt, there are many unknowns, but I have a good feeling.”