Max Verstappen: Belgian GP “damage limitation” | “Not as confident” as last two years

Max Verstappen has labelled the F1 Belgian Grand Prix as “damage limitation”, conceding he’s not as confident of winning as he was in the last two years.

While Verstappen dominated a wet qualifying session at Spa-Francorchamps, he will start Sunday’s race from 11th on the grid.

Verstappen won the last two races at Spa from outside the top five.

In 2022, he went from 14th on the grid to take a comfortable victory.

A year later, he started sixth and ultimately won by over 20 seconds.

This year is expected to be different with the McLarens posing a significant threat in dry conditions.

Speaking after qualifying at Spa, where Crash.net are in the paddock, Verstappen said: “Survive lap one and just go from there. I mean, 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, I'm not as confident as I was the last two years around here in coming back to the front. I still see it more as a damage limitation race.

“That's how it is. But at least today was the best possible we could do in terms of the starting position for tomorrow.”

Red Bull opted to run with more downforce in qualifying, unlike McLaren, which aided their performance in wet conditions.

As a result, they will be slower on the straights but likely look after their tyres better.

Verstappen is hopeful that Red Bull have made the correct choice with their rear wing.

“I felt a bit more confident and comfortable on the FP1 wing,” he added. “So I hope that that is also going to be the case tomorrow. Tomorrow is a bit warmer as well, so naturally probably a bit more sliding.

“I just hope, yeah, that it's better for me. But when you look at the McLaren, for example, they run a very skinny wing. Seems to work for them, but it didn't really work for me yesterday. So yeah, 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 pass people.”