With Max Verstappen starting further back on the grid owing to his gearbox penalty, the Red Bull driver will need to recover through the field if he wants to take the team's 12th consecutive win in 2023. There are four possible strategies that could be used to win the Belgian Grand Prix, two of which involve a two-stop strategy. If the conditions stay dry for most of the race then teams will be able to make use of a two-stop which includes running on the Soft tyre to start, then switching to the Mediums for the final two stints on Lap 10 and then Lap 25. The other alternative strategy would be a Soft-Medium-Soft strategy, which would involve pitting between Lap 10 and 15, then again between Lap 28 and 33. A one-stop strategy is possible by running on the Medium at the start and then switching to the Hard between Lap 14 and 20. Another possible route would be starting on the Soft and switching to the Hard between Laps 12 and 18.
Teams in the dark on strategy
Much of the running has been interrupted by the unpredictable weather at Spa Francorchamps, with the single one-hour practice session on Friday mostly being rained off. This means teams will only have limited data on the dry tyres heading into the race, which will mostly be based on simulations from previous events. Pirelli Head of Motorsport Mario Isola explained: "The teams will go into the race with plenty of information about the rain tyres, but they will be pretty much in the dark when it comes to the dry weather ones. "In the case of mixed conditions in the race, the crossover time from dry tyres to intermediates is estimated to be between 1:54.00 and 1:55.00, while from the intermediates to the extreme wets its between 2:04.00 to 2:05.00 [times based on a low fuel load]. "If it does not rain, then they will all have to base their strategy simulations on data gathered from past races at this track and on how the trio of available compounds have behaved in the first part of this season."
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