Wolff: "I'm really looking forward to the start tomorrow"

Without the presence of Ferrari at the forefront, Mercedes is virtually certain of a 1-2 qualifying result every race, especially on power circuits such as Spa-Francorchamps. Still, Red Bull Racing came surprisingly close, with only a fraction of a second between Valtteri Bottas and Max Verstappen.

According to Toto Wolff, so far the weekend didn't quite go as planned. "We haven't had a smooth weekend so far. It was a challenge to find the right setup in the free practice sessions, especially in the slow corners. We still saw that pattern in qualifying, but a lot less than before," explained the team boss in the Mercedes team review.

An exciting start

Behind the two Mercedes cars, there is also an interesting mix of drivers to attack the duo. "I am very curious to see how tomorrow's race will go, especially the first few laps will be exciting. Ricciardo has shown great speed on the straights today, so he will be strong in the lead-up to turn five tomorrow".

"Verstappen was very strong in the long runs yesterday, so I'm sure he will be in the fight as well. I'm looking forward to an exciting race - a new race, new opportunities," concluded the Austrian.