Max Verstappen admits this won’t be Aston Martin Red Bull Racing’s strongest track but is optimistic that the team can get a good result at the Belgian Grand Prix.
The Dutchman was third fastest in Free Practice 1 and fourth fastest in the afternoon session but acknowledges that it is hard to judge where everyone is.
“It is always difficult to judge how you compare after day one as not everyone is pushing 100%,” said Verstappen. “Today we mostly concentrated on setting up the car with very low downforce.
“Of course we know this won’t be our strongest track so we are focusing on getting as close as we can on the short runs.
“Our long run pace doesn’t look bad at the moment either so I’m quite happy with that, with a bit more grip it should be even better.”
Verstappen is realistic and knows the Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport and Scuderia Ferrari’s should be ahead of them but he is hoping the rain does come to help close the gap.
“We have to be realistic, fifth and sixth is about where we expect to be around here due to our power deficit but we are trying to optimise everything on the car to be as close as we can,” he said.
“Over the last few days the chance of rain has decreased which is a bit of a shame as this helps us close the gap.”
Verstappen was born in Belgium and this is the closest race to the Netherlands, so it is not surprising to see so much orange at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps and Verstappen appreciates the support he has been getting.
“Already the orange flares have been lit which is great to see, it’s nice to see so many fans out here supporting me on a Friday,” finished Verstappen.
