Formula 1 Belgian GP
McLaren busts Belgian GP myth and warns F1 struggles may return
In-form McLaren could regress in the Belgian Grand Prix because the fast Spa-Francorchamps Formula 1 circuit has arguably been mischaracterised and may expose the team’s lingering low-speed weaknesses.
Matt Kew
Edited: Jul 28, 2023, 8:09 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
The first and second stages of a three-step upgrade to change “pretty much every single aerodynamic part on the car” appears to have turned around McLaren’s poor start to the season.
Since the first updates arrived in Austria, Lando Norris has qualified inside the top four for the three GPs and finished runner-up to Max Verstappen at Silverstone and last weekend at the Hungaroring.
But team boss Andrea Stella has warned that McLaren may not continue its run of form at the Belgian venue for the sprint race weekend, since its characterisation as a high-speed track overlooks how time is gained during a lap.
He points to three decisive low-speed corners as being the key to a strong performance at Spa. However, McLaren’s recent development has mainly given a boost in medium- to high-speed turns.
Stella said: “Even if Spa is normally mentioned as one of the high-speed tracks, in reality, the highest-speed corner, which is corner 10 [Pouhon] is flat in qualifying.
“There's a lot of lap time in corner one [La Source] which is [50mph], in corner eight [Les Combes] which is [60mph] and in the last chicane, which is [55mph].
“So, I don't want to repeat myself, but I go with some care because in these three corners, at the moment, we see that we lose time. So, I think that's where we are.
“It will be also a sprint event. So, in addition to the outright performance, it will be important how rapidly you adapt your car to the demand of the track.
“Spa is also a very demanding track in terms of understanding, for instance, your ride heights, because with Eau Rouge, you can't run too low, because otherwise you would have problems under the car.
“So how rapidly you can set up your car can make a difference for the entire week's performance.”
Oscar Piastri, McLaren MCL60
Photo by: Michael Potts / Motorsport Images
The final part of its major development package was scheduled for Budapest but then eventually delayed owing to extended design and production timelines. It could debut this weekend at Spa.
While McLaren is confident that its upgrades have generated more load and in turn improved tyre management, Norris reckons the MCL60 is still not suited to his driving style at low speeds.
He said: “The car still doesn't handle anywhere like what I would want from a car. If you said, ‘what do you need from a perfect car?’, I feel like it's really far away from what I want.
“It's a combination of targeting slow-speed corners and load, and at the same time handling.
“If we can improve both of these together, that's already pretty much the biggest step we need and we'll probably take away any weaknesses we have and then we'll just be strong.”
Read Also:
- Why Belgian GP sprint presents F1 teams with FP1 challenge
- Mercedes switching F1 car development focus to pure performance
- Alpine: New floor for Belgian F1 GP will be “significant step”
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Ricciardo: Attention surrounding Hungary F1 return like winning title
Next article Aston Martin: 'Wrong choices' have impacted F1 form in recent races
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Matt Kew
Marko suggests Perez's improved F1 form because 2025 contract at stake
Formula 1
Formula 1
Japanese GP
Marko suggests Perez's improved F1 form because 2025 contract at stake
Russell explains how low-fuel runs expose Mercedes F1 inconsistency
Formula 1
Formula 1
Japanese GP
Russell explains how low-fuel runs expose Mercedes F1 inconsistency
Leclerc: No answer for "once in a season" Japan F1 qualifying struggle
Formula 1
Formula 1
Japanese GP
Leclerc: No answer for "once in a season" Japan F1 qualifying struggle
More from
McLaren
What's behind Oscar Piastri's split with Mark Webber – and what it means for his F1 career
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
What's behind Oscar Piastri's split with Mark Webber – and what it means for his F1 career
Malthe Jakobsen completes McLaren's WEC Hypercar driver line-up
WEC
WEC
Malthe Jakobsen completes McLaren's WEC Hypercar driver line-up
Latest news
IndyCar 2026 season review: ECR
IndyCar
Indy IndyCar 13 h
IndyCar 2026 season review: ECR
Toto Wolff reflects on Mercedes’ non-title years: ‘We weren’t complete losers’
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
13 h
Toto Wolff reflects on Mercedes’ non-title years: ‘We weren’t complete losers’
Renger van der Zande moves to IMSA’s LMP2 class full-time with Tower Motorsports
IMSA
IMSA IMSA 14 h
Renger van der Zande moves to IMSA’s LMP2 class full-time with Tower Motorsports
Nick Sanchez will compete for 2027 NASCAR Truck title with McAnally-Hilgemann
NASCAR Truck
NSTR NASCAR Truck
Homestead
14 h
Nick Sanchez will compete for 2027 NASCAR Truck title with McAnally-Hilgemann
Feature
Discover prime content
Top 10 F1 cars of the 1970s
Formula 1
By Kevin Turner
Top 10 F1 cars of the 1970s
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe