Will the return of the sprint expose Mercedes’ setup woes again?

Mercedes on the backfoot?

Mercedes traditionally start weekends slowly as they struggle to get the W14 setup right from the off.

With just one practice session ahead of qualifying, due to the sprint format, Mercedes will have just 60 minutes of running to fine-tune their setup.

While this is the case for every team on the grid, just one session of running isn’t sufficient time to optimise the setup.

Let’s take Hungary as an example.

Lewis Hamilton claimed the W14’s handling was the “worst” it had felt all season after two practice sessions on Friday.

Mercedes quickly turned it around overnight with another practice session in the morning.

Obviously, they won’t get that luxury at Spa.

With the weather looking like it’s going to be wet, their inability to get on top of the setup quickly might not come back to bite.

Could McLaren finish third?

McLaren’s remarkable turnaround in F1 2023 couldn’t have been predicted by anybody.

Let’s not forget McLaren failed to score a single point in the opening two races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

Their recent upgrade was expected to move them ahead of their midfield rivals, such as Alpine, however the gains they’ve found have been unprecedented.

You’d have to go back to 2009 with McLaren when a team made such significant progress mid-season with an upgrade.

In Britain and Hungary, McLaren were the second-fastest team behind Red Bull.

Their form will be a serious cause for concern for Ferrari and McLaren.

If the current points scoring continues over the next handful of races, McLaren will likely move ahead of Ferrari and Aston Martin within the next six rounds.

Finishing third in the constructors’ championship is surely a serious possibility for the Woking outfit now.

Verstappen’s biggest margin yet?

Max Verstappen reached a new level of dominance last time out at the Hungaroring, finishing over 33 seconds clear of Lando Norris. 

The scary thing is that it’s likely Red Bull will be even more dominant at Spa given their advantageous aero efficiency.

A year ago, Verstappen won the Belgian Grand Prix from 14th on the grid.

His advantage over the rest of the field was 18 seconds that day.

Should he have a smooth qualifying session, there’s no doubt it will be a greater margin, particularly if Sergio Perez’s underperformance continues.

Safety concerns

F1 returns to Spa less than a month after the death of 18-year-old Dutch driver Dilano van ‘t Hoff.

Van’t Hoff tragically died in a Formula Regional European Championship race following a multi-car incident on the Kemmel Straight in treacherous conditions.

The accident resulted in a number of F1 drivers, most notably Lance Stroll, to call for changes to the famous Belgian circuit.

Fingers crossed this weekend goes smoothly with all drivers across all categories coming away from Belgium safely.

The weather at Spa looks bleak with rain expected across all three days of running.