"Could be in for a Silverstone-esque chaotic race" : five things to look out for in the Belgian Grand Prix
- Sasha Macmillen
- Jul 26
- 4 min read
Lando Norris qualified on pole position for Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix ahead of his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri by only eight one-hundredths of a second, taking his fourth pole of the season. Charles Leclerc slotted in behind the McLarens in P3.
Norris summarised Saturday as a "good day" and a "nice improvement from yesterday", when his teammate had beaten him to sprint pole by more than half a second. He expanded upon the feeling of driving a Formula One car around Spa-Francorchamps:
"It's a fun track in any car. I've driven here since Formula 4, quite a bit slower in that, but in Formula One, it's good fun. It always puts a smile on your face during qualifying."
The Australian meanwhile described his qualifying as a "bit of a shame" considering that he was in a "reasonably good flow" on a track he enjoys driving. Nevertheless, Spa-Francorchamps is a notoriously tough track for pole sitters to convert to victory, for a variety of reasons. These are five things to look out for up and down the grid during Sunday's race:
Norris vs Piastri on Lap 1
Piastri described himself as feeling "confident' for tomorrow's race, especially considering his starting position of P2 on the grid, which has historically proven to be very strong at Spa-Francorchamps. Lap 1 of the sprint race saw Max Verstappen pass the Australian at the end of the Kemmel Straight, a move that has been seen a number of times over the years. Sebastian Vettel famously performed the same manoeuvre on Lewis Hamilton in both 2018 and 2019.
Asked about whether he was hoping that Lando would cut a nice hole in the air for him on the run up to Turn 5 on the opening Lap, Piastri was cautious:
"Let's see. If it's dry, then yes. If it's wet, then it obviously adds in some other challenges, but we'll have to wait and see what the weather does first. I know what I'm hoping for."
Hamilton and Antonelli look to make recovery drives from the back
Lewis Hamilton described qualifying as "incredibly painful" in the media pen as a deleted lap time saw his knocked out in Q1 for the second time this weekend. Kimi Antonelli was similarly disappointed following his early exit, describing this weekend as a "difficult period" in which he is looking for the "light out of the tunnel". Both drivers will seek to make strong recoveries in superior machinery to the drivers starting ahead of them.
A tight battle for the podium
Charles Leclerc pipped Max Verstappen by only three milliseconds to start third on the grid for Sunday's race. The Red Bull driver's strong performance in the sprint race to hold off the McLaren of Oscar Piastri for 15 laps would indicate that he is best placed to join the McLarens on the podium tomorrow, despite struggling in what he described as a "not very good" qualifying in Belgium.
A delighted Alex Albon meanwhile credited a battery pack with full deployment as key to him achieving his best qualifying performance of the season in P5, and his highest starting position since the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix. The Thai driver has not finished on the podium since then and whilst in dry conditions the Williams is unlikely to be competitive enough to challenge, the threat of rain tomorrow leaves Albon among a number of drivers in contention for the podium tomorrow, also including the Mercedes of George Russell.
The fight for the lower points paying positions
Yuki Tsunoda qualified P7 for the highest grid slot of his Red Bull career so far and thanked his team for pre-qualifying upgrades, particularly to his floor, which he described as having made a "massive difference" in improving the balance of his RB21. He hasn't finished higher than ninth in Bahrain this season, and will certainly be hoping for a strong result to boost his confidence heading into the Hungarian Grand Prix.
The two Racing Bulls of Isack Hadjar and Liam Lawson were joined by Gabriel Bortoleto in the top 10, whereas a disappointed Esteban Ocon will also seek to score more points after his stunning qualifying performance yesterday.
The weather radar
Spa-Francorchamps is famous for its tendency to produce rain-soaked weekends, and tomorrow's forecast looks likely to bring damp conditions to the circuit. The 2021 edition saw half points awarded as the only laps completed were under the safety car in conditions that were unsafe to drive in.
Whilst the hope is that tomorrow's weather won't be severe enough to prevent the race from starting, the high likelihood of rain is sure to cause havoc up and down the field and potentially upend any of the aforementioned storylines, just like we saw at the British Grand Prix.
Verstappen said that Red Bull had changed the set-up of the car to suit the rain, which may somewhat explain his balance issues in qualifying. But an adapted set-up may raise hopes of an inspired drive to reignite his championship hopes tomorrow, even if the Dutchman would not be drawn when asked.
All in all, the forecast of rain threatens to provide fans with a chaotic and potentially thrilling Belgian Grand Prix, in which McLaren's current hegemony over Formula One may be challenged, even if their performance in the damp of Silverstone suggests that a different winner is not a given.
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