Verstappen satisfied with Red Bull package but wary of Belgian GP deficit

Verstappen sees positives, but rivals hold the benchmark

Max Verstappen described Red Bull’s Friday at the Belgian Grand Prix as “pretty decent”, yet the three-time practice picture also gave him a clear indication of the performance still separating his car from its rivals.

“I think from what we have as a package, it’s been a good day,” Verstappen said. “The balance is there straight away – just fine tuning a little bit with the car, which hopefully unlocks a little bit more pace.”

Gear-shift issue adds to Friday workload

Verstappen’s day was not entirely straightforward. He reported difficulties with the gear shifts, calling them “unbelievable”, before running wide onto the gravel. The incident briefly brought out a red flag while the stones were cleared from the track.

Despite that interruption, he insisted Red Bull had extracted the maximum from its current package and that there was no reason for disappointment. The immediate priority is now to convert the car’s baseline balance into additional qualifying pace.

Red Bull continues rear-wing reset

Another variable was the return of Red Bull’s older-specification rear wing. The component was reintroduced after Verstappen’s crashes in Austria and Great Britain, which were attributed to a faulty updated part. Verstappen explained that the older wing “opens differently”, creating another element for him to optimise.

Technical Director Pierre Wache said Red Bull had identified the Silverstone issue and was working to reproduce and fix it. The team’s priority, he stressed, was driver safety before restoring the performance benefit of the updated wing.

Wache also pointed to an imperfect balance and degradation during long runs, calling Friday “a good starting point to improve”. For Red Bull, the challenge is therefore defined: refine the balance, address the long-run weakness and close the gap revealed in FP2 before qualifying.