SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium — When Max Verstappen raced on the Belgian Grand prize Last season he was on his way to his third consecutive Formula 1 world championship.
A year later, the Dutch driver enters the same race on Sunday with what appears to be a fighting on his hands of a pack of pursuers led by McLaren’s Lando Norris.
Not only does Verstappen face stiff competition for the first time since becoming the sport’s dominant force, he also receives a 10-place grid penalty in the race after his team installed a fifth engine in his car for Friday’s first practice session. That’s one engine more than the set limit for the season.
The Red Bull ace still holds a relatively comfortable lead of 76 points — 265 to Norris’s 189. But McLaren has closed the pace gap to Red Bull this summer while Mercedes And Ferrari remain a real threat to individual victories.
In 2023, Verstappen finished first at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, achieving a eighth win in a row and enter the mid-season break with a 125-point lead over teammate Sergio Perez. Verstappen would have a formula 1 file 10 wins in a row while Red Bull dominated the season. Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was the only non-Red Bull driver to top the podium.
And Verstappen looked set for another title run this year after winning four of the first five races. But he has since taken just three wins in the last eight grands prix and has now gone three consecutive races without a win for the first time since 2021.
His frustration was on full display last weekend in Hungary when he finished fifth despite starting third. Verstappen was seen arguing with his team over the radio about their pit stop strategies after his car was unable to keep up with the pace of the McLarens, which the front row both in qualifying and the race.
“From my side I think it was quite clear that the strategy was wrong and of course I am very driven, as is everyone in the team. We want to try to be perfect,” Verstappen said on Thursday, reflecting on the tough race in Budapest, where he was in contact with Lewis Hamiltons Mercedes that sent his Red Bull into the air.
“Now I know that every race to do that is very, very difficult. I think we were very close last year, but when things don’t go the way they should have, I think it’s very normal that you can express your frustration.”
Verstappen, born in Belgium but racing under the Dutch flag, has won here for the past three years on the circuit in the wooded hills of the Ardennes.
However, Verstappen admitted the 10-place penalty hurt his chances of ending his run of races without a win.
“I knew it was coming, of course. It’s not a surprise to me,” he said earlier. “If you look at our last few races where we weren’t exactly the fastest, I wouldn’t say that 10 more places gives us a chance to win.”
Radio play
Oscar Piastri became the seventh different winner in 13 races this season after taking a McLaren first-two ahead of Norris at the Hungaroring.
While the papaya cars were elusive, the real drama of the race was playing out on McLaren team radio, with team engineer Norris having to plead with him to hand the lead back to Piastri.
“The main thing is that we had a one-two. I was super happy with that, the whole team was very happy,” Norris said on Thursday. “Could I have done things a little bit differently? Yes, but that’s from my side and the team’s side to discuss what we did, so (I) come this weekend to try to repeat it in terms of result.”
While Norris still has a long way to go to catch Verstappen, McLaren as a team has overtaken Red Bull in the constructors’ championship. Red Bull leads McLaren 389-338, with Pérez struggling to stay with the best drivers despite having one of the better cars.
Excercise
Verstappen was fastest in the first practice session for Piastri on Friday. Alex Albon set the third fastest time in his Williams.
Alpine ran into trouble when Esteban Ocon was forced to remain in the garage due to a suspected water leak.
The qualifications will take place on Saturday.
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