Mercedes on the backfoot?

Mercedes traditionally start weekends slowly as they struꦐggle to get the W14 setup right from the off.

With just one practice session ahead of qualifying, due 🎀ꦛto the sprint format, Mercedes will have just 60 minutes of running to fine-tune their setup.

While this is the case for every team on the grid, just one sessio🤡n of running isn’t sufficient time to optimise the setup.

Let’s take Hungary as an example.

168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Lewis Hamilton claimed the W14’s✨ handling was the “worst” it had felt all season after two practice sessions on Friday.

Mercedes quickly turned it around overnight with another practice session in the morni꧙ng.

Obviously, they won’t get that luxury at Spa.

With the weather looking like it’s going to be wet, their inability to get on top of the setup quickly migh🌠t not come back to bite.

Could McLaren finish third?

McLaren’s remarkable turnaround in F1 2023 couldn’t have been predicted by anybody.

Let’s not forget McLaren failed to score a single point in the opening two races in Bahrain and Saudiꩲ 🍎Arabia.

Their recent upgrade was expected to move them ahead of their midfield rivals, such as Alpine, however the gains they’ve found have been u꧙nprecedented.

Yꦚou’d have to go backꦗ to 2009 with McLaren when a team made such significant progress mid-season with an upgrade.

In Britain and Hungary, McLaren were t𒆙he second-fastest team behind Red Bull.

Their form will be a serious cause for concern for Ferrari and McLar🅠en.

If the current points scoring continues over the next handful of race꧑s, McLaren will likely move ahead of Ferrari and Aston Martin within the next six rounds.

Finish✃ing third in the constౠructors’ championship is surely a serious possibility for the Woking outfit now.

Verstappen’s biggest margin yet?

168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Max Verstappen reached a new level of dominance last time out at the Hungaroring, finishing over 33 seconds clear of 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Lando Norris. 

The scary thing is t♔hat it’s likely Red Bull will be even more domꦬinant at Spa given their advantageous aero efficiency.

A year ago, Vers𝔍tappen won the Belgian Grand Prix from 14th on the grid.

His advantage over the rest of the field was 18 seconds that d💞ay.

Should he have a smooth qualifying session, there’s no doubt it will be a greater margin, particularly if 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Sergio Perez’s underperformance continues.

Safety concerns

F1 returns to Spa less than a month after t﷽he death of 18-year-old Dutch driver Dilano van ‘t Hoff.

Van’t Hoffꦕ tragically died in a Formula Regional European Championship race following a multi-car incident on the Kemmel Straight in treacherous condition🔯s.

The accident resulted in a number of F1 drivers, most notably 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Lance Stroll, to call for changes to the famou꧟s Belgian𒊎 circuit.

Fingers crossed this weekend goes smoothly with all drivers across all categories coming away from Belgium sa💯fely.

The weather at Spa l♛ooks bleak with rain expected across all three days of runnꦫing.