Max Verstappen doesn't have high expectations for the Belgian Grand Prix heading into Saturday and qualifying. The Dutchman will be supported by a sea of Dutch fans who have journeyed to Spa-Francorchamps to support him, but the Red Bull man isn't expecting much until race day.
Speaking to the media after Friday practice, Verstappen explained that the team didn't have the one-lap pace of their rivals which would hurt them come qualifying.
“In qualifying, realistically fifth and sixth behind the two Mercedes and two Ferraris.
“But in the race, you never know what is going to happen.
“The long run pace was not too bad, so I’m actually quite happy with that. Just need to find a bit more grip.
“The last sector, we seemed pretty quick. But with the rear wing we have on the car, you expect to be like that. It’s just not easy to be in the second sector where you lose a lot of rear downforce and sliding around a bit more. We’re still trying to optimise that.”
After suffering an issue in free practice one which limited him to just three minutes of running, teammate Daniel Ricciardo agreed that the team still had work to do before qualifying.
“We weren’t quick enough today. Short and long runs, we still need to find some pace,” he said.
“We need to try and figure out how to do that. We did make changes through this afternoon session. I feel we improved one thing but created another problem so we didn’t find the optimum set-up through the changes we made.
“That’s Friday, we’ll try and go better tomorrow.”
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