Verstappen: RB21 straight-line speed not enough to beat McLaren

Max Verstappen was happy to split McLaren’s drivers in Sprint Qualifying at Spa-Francorchamps, acknowledging that Red Bull’s strong straight-line speed wasn’t enough to challenge team papaya for pole over a full lap.

The Dutchman clocked in second behind pace-setter Oscar Piastri in Friday’s Sprint Qualifying session, but admitted that his RB21’s performance deficit relative to McLaren’s MCL39 – particularly through the Spa’s fast corners – remains too large to mount a serious challenge for victory on pace alone.

Verstappen was solid throughout all three segments of qualifying, often matching or exceeding the pace of his McLaren rivals.

But when Piastri delivered a stunning 1m40.510s in the final shootout, it left the Red Bull star trailing by nearly half a second.

At the end of the day, the reigning world champion felt that he had extracted the most from his machine.

“I think so – I mean, being P2 between them, I think is already a good result for us,” Verstappen told F1 TV after the session. “I do think we maximised that, and I enjoyed it out there. Yeah, the lap itself was fine, it was good.”

While pleased with his personal execution, Verstappen admitted the size of the gap to Piastri wasn’t surprising based on what he had seen in Friday’s free practice.

“Of course, the gap is very big, but it’s been big already from FP1, so it’s not a big surprise,” he said. “We just have to focus on ourselves and work on the balance of the car and try to go faster.”

Downforce Trade-Off and Upgrade Package

Like at Silverstone, Red Bull has opted for a lower downforce configuration at Spa to gain a straight-line speed edge – something that paid off in qualifying trim three weeks ago but may again compromise them in the race, especially if conditions turn wet.

When asked if the straight-line advantage could help him in the sprint, Verstappen was skeptical.

“Yeah, but when you’re almost five tenths off, I don’t think going faster or slower on the straight is going to matter a lot,” he said. “We just have to do our own race and see what we can do.”

Red Bull also brought upgrades to Spa, but Verstappen admitted it’s tough to assess their true effectiveness during a sprint weekend when practice time is limited.

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• Tech F1i: Red Bull and Ferrari push big upgrades for Spa weekend

“It’s always difficult in a Sprint weekend to see exactly what they do, of course, but then when you look at the gap, that’s not what we want, right?” he said.

“But we keep improving, keep trying to find more performance, but other teams do the same thing. So that’s just how it goes.”

With Piastri looking dominant and Verstappen doubtful that setup alone can bridge the gap, Red Bull face a strategic puzzle going into Saturday’s sprint and Sunday’s Grand Prix.

Rain remains in the forecast, and the team may have to rethink its aero package on Saturday to stay competitive on Sunday.

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