Max Verstappen is still expecting a “damage limitation” race with his grid demotion in Formula 1’s Belgian Grand Prix despite smashing the competition in qualifying.
Verstappen was a class apart in the wet at Spa-Francorchamps as he topped all three sessions and qualified with a six-tenth advantage over Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
However, the Dutchman will not line up on pole position tomorrow as he has exceeded his allowance on parts this season and will drop back 10 places down to 11th.
Verstappen is certain that capitalising on a higher downforce-orientated set-up and minimising his compound usage in the earlier segments was critical to his margin.
“Yeah it was a good day,” Verstappen beamed. “Of course yesterday we tried a few things with the car.
“I think we learned from that and we tried to put on the car what we thought was best.
“I think as you could see we ran maybe also a little bit more downforce compared to some competitors.
“So naturally of course in the wet probably it’s a little bit more stable and that can help of course around here.
“But overall I think the laps were good in qualifying all the way from Q1 to Q3.
“I passed Q1 and Q2 only on one tyre set so I think that was important because that gave me of course a better opportunity for Q3 and yeah everything was working well.”
Verstappen overcame grid penalties in the previous two races in Belgium to surge through from 14th on the grid in 2022 to win and repeated that from sixth last term.
But the three-time F1 champion is not anticipating that he can dispatch the pack with as much ease this time around as he suspects that McLaren start as favourites.
“Of course today is not as important because tomorrow is going to be dry, it’s going to be warmer and we need to be good on tyres,” he continued.
“It is going to be of course a little bit more tricky. I don’t expect it of course to be like the last two years. Naturally looking at of course the cars around us being quite quick.
“So yeah we’ll just try to move forward, try to fight Ferraris, Mercedes and with a bit of luck maybe the McLarens but it all depends on our pace ourselves.”
Verstappen has reiterated his past stance that his sights are set on limiting the damage to his huge 75-point championship lead rather than targeting an outright win.
Asked what his approach will be during the 44-lap encounter, Verstappen responded: “Survive lap one and just go from there.
“We also have a bit of a different tyre strategy to the other cars so we have to wait and see how that will evolve in the race, but yeah we’ll see what we can do.
“I mean yeah I’m not of course as confident as I was the last two years around here in coming back to the front.
“I still see more as like a damage limitation race. That’s how it is but at least today was the I think the best possible we could do in terms of the starting position for tomorrow.”
Verstappen elected to revert to a more-loaded rear wing configuration, but he is not concerned that choice could be a hindrance to his endeavours to climb the order.
Instead, the Red Bull driver has pointed out that having greater downforce will enable him to preserve his rubber better and create overtaking opportunities from that.
“I felt a bit more confident and comfortable on the FP1 wing so I hope that that is also going to be the case tomorrow,” he explained.
“Tomorrow is a bit warmer as well so actually probably a bit more sliding.
“I hope that it’s better for me but when you of course look at the McLaren for example they’re in a very skinny wing.
“It seems to work for them, but it didn’t really work for me yesterday so yeah a bit of a different strategy also there and I guess we’ll find out tomorrow how it will work out.
“I mean I have to pass cars. The DRS effect is quite big around here.
“But at the end of the day I think it’s more important just to be good on tyres around here because if you’re good on tyres you can you can pass people.”
