FIA meeting, McLaren's Pace and 'God Speed': DRC's Belgian GP Preview

Coming to Spa, the fight for P2 intensifies as new mid field team is gaining pace and potential changes as F1 Commission convene meeting, here's Desi Racing Co's preview for Belgian GP.

F1 heads to Spa for the Belgian GP this weekend and the final race before its four-week summer break. Max Verstappen is once again the favourite as the Formula 1 grid heads to Spa this week but a particular McLaren star is moving up the board after back-to-back podium finishes. Ferrari is still fighting its issues rather than racing on the track. So let's dive into what will this race weekend bring to us.

Max and Red Bull Dominating Championship!

Max has been reigning the championship table with a gain of 110 points over his teammate Sergio Perez. Now if Checo wants to win the title, he has to win every race and every sprint, and Max has to finish P2 or lower, which won’t happen looking at the pace Red Bull is having.

Max was dominant throughout this race, overtaking Hamilton, who had pole position at the start of the race, to secure victory with a remarkable 33-second lead over McLaren's Norris, who held Sergio behind him.

From last year's Abu Dhabi GP to this year’s Hungaroring ring triumph Red Bull is on 12 win strike surpassing Mclaren's 11-win strike in 1988.

Toto Wolff: You saw the pace Max had today. It's like a bunch of Formula 2 cars against a Formula 1 car.

Is Mclaren 2nd fastest now?

As we saw in British and Hungary GPs Mclaren bagged the podium in both races, despite vastly different track characteristics. The question arises: is McLaren finally back in top form?

Spa or Spa-Francorchamps is the fastest track on the European calendar, with corners going 300km/h. Not only is it physically strenuous, but the driver has to be mentally prepared and demands calmness due to its high speed. The Ardennes forest’s unpredictable weather made conditions challenging, with parts of the track being wet while the rest being perfectly dry and sunny. Spa's combination of unpredictability and high-speed corners makes it one of the most dangerous race tracks.

"...You come into the corner downhill, have a sudden change [of direction] at the bottom and then go very steep uphill. From the cockpit, you cannot see the exit and as you come over the crest, you don't know where you will land. It is a crucial corner for the timed lap, and also in the race, because you have a long uphill straight afterwards where you can lose a lot of time if you make a mistake…” Alonso once said.

This is going to be a whole new experience for Mclaren along with their much anticipated 3rd part of the upgrade that would be coming in Spa. Despite their impressive podium finishes in the first half of the calendar, fans eagerly await to see how they perform at the Temple of Speed.

Mercedes's newfound speed?

In a surprising turn of events at the Hungary GP, Lewis Hamilton managed to secure the pole position with just three-hundredths of a second lead over Max. But he lost to the race winner in the very first corner after being forced wide open around the opening turn, finding himself getting overtaken by both the McLarens.

Contradicting that, George Russell came all the way up from P18 to P6 which can be considered impressive for Mercedes since they decide to change the entire concept of the car mid-way through half of the season.

“We have got to find out how we could have done that better. You can see that George [Russell] came back from a long way down, beating the Aston Martins, and beating the Ferraris. So we just need to analyse that.” Tot Wolff said.

Mercedes is preparing an upgrade specifically for Spa, a high-speed track, as their current setup is tailored to slow-speed corners.

Errors Need to be Reset, Racing Has to Begin.

The SF-23 lost six-tenths of seconds on Mclaren last month. Despite showing promise in qualifying, it has been inconsistent in results, lacking overall performance. In any case, it doesn’t seem to be the car that can climb the podium. Even though Austria's performance was highly praised by drivers and even the team principal it quickly got overshadowed by the British GP and even Hungary GP to say. The fact that McLaren is finishing ahead of them and went onto bagging podiums rubbed salt on their wounds.

“I have a feeling we are not that far off the teams ahead of us in terms of performance, but we haven't given our all in terms of execution this weekend. The potential is there, and we saw it on Friday, but we didn't confirm it on Saturday or today in the race”. – comments Vassuer at the end of the race.

Spa highlights the SF-23's strong point of aerodynamic efficiency. It excels on the straights without compromising too much in configuration, which could be advantageous on the Belgian circuit.

Landmarks Decision On the Way: F1 Commission Meeting

The F1 Commission is meeting on the 28th in Spa and this meeting could be the reason for some of the important decisions.

Some of the important topics on the list are tyres engines, transmissions and budget caps.

The decision of whether or not to allow the tyre blankets would be crucial, as it would decide which brand would be the manufacturer. If the ban is postponed by a year, Pirelli will remain the manufacturer. If postponed indefinitely, Bridgestone will have a higher chance of winning the bid.

The engine equalization agenda, if implemented in 2024, would be most beneficial for Alpine and its engine supplier Renault. Sources suggest that Alpine lacks power somewhere between 20-33HP compared to its competitors. As the engine freeze is in place until 2025, Renault is unable to increase their engine power.

The gearbox of each manufacturer is specific to them so for the customer teams ie Aston Martin, Williams and Haas to shift from one supplier to another is impossible because that means they have to bring modifications to the car. Hence FIA is proposing to have standardised cassettes but the big teams will resist it. Dependencies bring you benefits.

The current budget cap is set or 36 million US dollars. The FIA is suggesting increasing it to 50 or 80 million US dollars to allow teams to upgrade their infrastructures and tools for better competitiveness at the front of the grid.

A Williams Surprise?

William took their most recent podium here in Spa Francorchamps in 2021, and They even scored a point in 2022 thanks to their incredible straight-line speed. This year’s Williams FW45 has incredible straight-line speed due to the lack of downforce which should suit this track.

“It really reminds me of 2009 and the Force India with absolutly no down force but no drag, they went out and super competetive at SPA. I think Williams has shot at Pole Position at the Belgian Grand Prix” - Sam S Collins, F1TV analyst

What does the Weather look like for the Weekend?

FRIDAY, JULY 28 – FP1 AND QUALIFYING
Chance of rain: 90%

SATURDAY, JULY 29 – SHOOTOUT AND SPRINT RACE
Chance of rain: 90%

SUNDAY, JULY 23 – RACE WEATHER
Chance of rain: 70%

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