Mercedes: "Turn five gets crowded with Verstappen and Ricciardo behind us"

On the long circuit of Spa-Francorchamps the expectation was that Mercedes' dominance would be even more obvious on Saturday. However, there was remarkably little difference between Max Verstappen and the Mercedes. And the Renault team is also doing good business in Belgium.

Andrew Shovlin has noticed this as well. "It was closer at the front compared to previous races this year. We are clearly driving with more downforce than Red Bull Racing and are losing a few tenths on them on both straights, but we are quicker in the corners again. The midfield is also right behind us," said the Chief Race Engineer in the Mercedes team review.

A busy corner

The Briton is not expecting an easy race and certainly not in the opening round of the Belgian Grand Prix. "We expect turn five to be quite exciting. It's hard enough to keep the lead there, but since Max is a little bit faster and Daniel has something like 8 kilometres per hour on us, it could get pretty crowded at the end of the straight".

Despite the expected tension, Shovlin will do well. "It's normally a fun race and then of course there's the chance of rain that we have to take into account".