Max Verstappen Refutes Claims of Speed ‘Advantage’ at Belgian GP After P2 in Sprint Qualifying

Max Verstappen brutally declines all claims of having a massive advantage in straight-line speed against the McLarens at the Belgian GP.

Max Verstappen Refutes Claims of Speed ‘Advantage’ at Belgian GP After P2 in Sprint Qualifying

Max Verstappen (via Red Bull)

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Max Verstappen‘s woes at Red Bull have calmed down now as the Dutchman seems more confident driving the RB21 challenger. While Verstappen hasn’t returned to his final form yet, the pace is improving in the car. This is evident from his P2 qualifying for the Sprint race of the Belgian GP, as he almost clinched the pole position from Oscar Piastri. However, despite a positive trend in pace, the 27-year-old refuses to be at an advantage on the straights of the Spa-Francorchamps circuit.

Red Bull brought in multiple upgrades to the RB21 challenger in hopes of finding improvement over the Belgian GP. The team also stuck to a setup that provided Max Verstappen with more downforce in his car. While this helped him gain crucial time over the straights of the circuits, he seems to suffer at the corners and bends. Regardless, the 27-year-old is at par with McLaren’s pace at the Belgian GP as he nearly misses out on the pole position to Oscar Piastri.

Max Verstappen was questioned regarding his thoughts on Red Bull’s advantage in some sectors of the track. Even though Verstappen looked strong in his performances, he lost out on the Sprint pole position to Oscar Piastri by a gap of over 0.4 seconds. As such, the 27-year-old refuted any claims of being at an apparent advantage against rivals, especially in the straight-line speed.

Max Verstappen reckoned that he was almost five-tenths off the pace of McLaren’s challenger at the Belgian GP, even though he nearly missed the pole position. As such, the Dutchman pointed out that a minor advantage in straight-line speed wouldn’t matter much in the long run. Regardless, the reigning world champion insisted that he and Red Bull would focus on their own races and bring home the best results possible.

When you’re almost five-tenths off, I don’t think being faster or slower down the straights is going to matter a lot. We’ll just have to run our own race and see what we can do.

Max Verstappen said in a post-session interview

Max Verstappen delivers ‘difficult to say’ verdict on Red Bull’s upgrades

Max Verstappen has remained vocal about the issues he has faced with the RB21 challenger since the beginning of the 2025 season. Even though Verstappen has achieved two coveted race wins, he remains 69 points adrift of the championship lead to Oscar Piastri. Now, the Dutchman raises uncertainity on the effectiveness of the upgrades brought in by Milton Keynes.

Max Verstappen (via Red Bull)
Max Verstappen (via Red Bull)

Max Verstappen asserted that it would be difficult to talk about the advantage that the upgrades brought in over a sprint weekend. However, looking at the gap between McLaren and Red Bull, it is apparent that the gain isn’t as significant. Regardless, the 27-year-old reassured that he and the team continue to improve and unlock more performance available in the car.

I guess so, yeah. I mean, it’s always difficult to say in a sprint weekend what they do. But when you look at the gap, that’s of course not what we want, right? We keep improving, keep trying to find more performance — but other teams do the same thing. That’s just how it goes.

Max Verstappen noted

The 2025 season has peaked in excitement and competition at the forefront as Max Verstappen continues his pursuit of success this year. The Dutchman seems far off in the championship standings currently, but he can turn it around immediately if the car’s performance improves. As such, time will tell if the reigning world champion gets a chance to fight for the drivers’ title this year or not.

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