Max Verstappen devalues upgraded Red Bull advantage after McLaren Spa split

Max Verstappen has downplayed the apparent advantage of his upgraded Red Bull at Spa-Francorchamps after managing to split McLaren duo Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris in sprint qualifying.

In an RB21 sporting a raft of updates, including a revised front wing, Verstappen will start second on the grid behind Piastri, albeit finishing 0.477s adrift of the championship-leading Australian, who set a new lap record of 1:40.510s.

Norris will line up third, the Briton 0.141s behind the four-time champion.

Aside from the upgrades on the Red Bull, the team also sacrificed downforce for straight-line speed, notable by the fact Verstappen was quickest through the speed trap along the Kemmel Straight.

The offset, however, was the fact that his car was slower through the more twisty middle sector where Piastri, in particular, came into his own in the MCL39.

Reflecting on his qualifying performance, Verstappen said: "Being P2 between them [the McLarens] is a good result for us, and I do think we maximised it. I enjoyed it out there. The lap itself was fine, was good.

"Of course, the gap was big, but it was big already from FP1, so not a big surprise. We just have to focus on ourselves and on the balance of the car and try to go faster."

As to his apparent advantage on the straights, which is likely to see him leading out the Les Combes chicane on lap one providing he gets a decent tow off Piastri, Verstappen noted: "Even when you are almost five tenths off I don't think going faster or slower on the straight is going to make a lot of difference.

"We just have to do our own race and see what we can do."

At least Verstappen obtained a reasonable feel from the upgrades, adding: "It's always difficult in a sprint weekend to see exactly what they do, of course, but then when you look at the gap, that's not what we want.

"We will keep improving, keep trying to find more performance, but the other teams are doing the same thing. That's just how it goes."