What to expect from the 2023 F1 Belgian Grand Prix

Now is time for something a little bit different in Formula 1: the Belgian Grand Prix taking place before the summer break.

Traditionally, the trek to the middle of the Ardennes Forest has welcomed F1 back from the summer holidays, but in 2023, the race sends F1 on them.

The Dutch Grand Prix has taken the end of August slot, with Spa now moving forward to round out the first-half of the campaign - which up until this point has been dominated by Max Verstappen and Red Bull.

It's nine wins from 11 races and seven on the trot for the World Champion as he continues to build what is likely to go down as the most one-sided championship in F1 history.

And to make matters worse for the chasing pack, Spa in 2022 was where the brilliance of Red Bull was unleashed.

Return to Red Bull's strongest track

The 2022 Belgian Grand Prix was a tour de force from Verstappen who crushed the field in the RB18 on a weekend of unrivalled dominance.

Quickest in Qualifying, he actually started 14th thanks to engine penalties, but by Lap 18 (including his pit-stop) was leading for good.

The high-speed blast through the south-eastern trees of Belgium perfectly suited the package, which has been further refined into this year's RB19 machine - which is increasingly on the path to F1 immortality by winning every Grand Prix this season.

As Toto Wolff would put it, with nothing else in the same formula as the Red Bull, and Sergio Perez's confidence still shaky after his recent run, it is going to take something special from someone to disrupt Verstappen's winning run.

During that run, from the last seven race weekends, he has taken 188 points from a possible 190 - only missing the fastest lap in Monaco and Canada. Belgium is a track Verstappen loves so he enters as the favourite to haul the maximum 34 points once again from the Sprint weekend.

Unless...

Rain at Spa?

Rain and the Belgian Grand Prix have a funny relationship.

Famously, it can be bone dry at one end of the 7km track, but at the other, it can be pouring rain, leading to some iconic moments down the years - including when Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen were battling for the lead in the closing laps of the 2008 race on dry tyres or when multiple cars went off at the bus-stop chicane in 2010.

And current projections are for the wet stuff to make its traditional appearance at Spa.

Both Friday and Saturday are likely to cop the worst of the rain based off current forecasts, with there being rain around on the afternoon of race day.

The Red Bull is bullet-proof with reliability in recent times and it is a race team firing on all cylinders at the moment.

The rain of the Belgian Grand Prix could provide the chasing pack their only hope of ending Verstappen's march to re-writing the record books once again.

Can McLaren keep this up?

If you are Wolff or Frederic Vasseur, your 2023 season started badly enough when Aston Martin took a giant leap forward into the leading gaggle of teams.

But over recent races, as Aston has slipped back relative to Mercedes and Ferrari, but it has been 'replaced' by McLaren.

The huge McLaren upgrade has been introduced after a number of races, with initial parts being delivered in Austria before further ones at Silverstone.

McLaren was concerned by the potential of its package in the heat and low to medium-speed corners of the Hungaroring but flew out of Hungary with another podium in the bag for Lando Norris.

The MCL60 has enjoyed high-speed corners with the car also strong in cool conditions thanks to excellent tyre warm-up.

If it does indeed rain throughout the weekend, McLaren could be in pole position to defeat Verstappen...