Verstappen Targets Spa Win Perez Struggles Continue

Verstappen aims for victory at Spa while Perez grapples with pace, marking a critical day for Red Bull.

Setting the pace in Free Practice 1 at Spa, Max Verstappen finished with the third fastest time in Free Practice 2, this time bested by the McLarens.

For Verstappen, who will start from 11th at best on Sunday due to a confirmed 10-place grid penalty for an engine change, there remains work to be done on the balance of the RB20, an issue that has recently frustrated the Dutch driver.

“We tried quite a few things today, refining and testing the car, as it’s typically Spa where of course, you have sectors one and three where you want top speed, then a very long middle sector where you want cornering speed.”

“It’s always very challenging to find the right balance when you’re experimenting with several variables to see what works best. We’ll review this with the data and analyze the day during the debrief.”

“We started quite positively today and we have a few points to work on after FP2. I’m hopeful that all the changes we make will bear fruit, especially since I’ll be starting from the back of the grid due to the engine penalty. However, we’ll try to optimize this as much as possible. Naturally, you always want to perform well in qualifying, but the race is our focus.”

With only the ninth fastest time, Sergio Perez was a full second behind his teammate today in Belgium. However, the Mexican remains unconcerned.

“During the practice sessions, we played with the settings, but we haven’t yet been able to fully exploit the car. The team gathered a lot of information today, with both cars performing very differently, and there’s a lot to analyze for tomorrow’s strategy.”

“The upcoming weekend will be interesting; tomorrow’s qualifying could potentially be wet, and Sunday is forecast to be dry for now. There are still many unknowns as the weekend approaches, so we’ll need to be adaptable.”