While Max Verstappen won his eighth straight Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps, a curious development caught the eye of famed F1 journalist Peter Windsor. During the main race in Belgium, the Red Bull cars registered the lowest speeds among all the cars in Sector 1 and Sector 3, which the journalist explains, was for the team’s benefit. Williams driver Logan Sargeant registered the fastest speed at 200.7 mph, while Verstappen registered the second slowest pace at 192 mph, with his Mexican teammate going slowest at 191.3 mph.
Race winner Max Verstappen was also slow during the qualifying sessions, with a gap of almost 3.1 mph. Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton recorded the fastest speed in the first sector at 194.4 mph while Verstappen pushed his car to only 190 mph.
Rather than hurting Red Bull, the slow-speed driving turned out to be helpful to them, as explained by Windsor. The car achieved better stability and downforce than the others, meaning it was quick going into corners and even quicker coming out of them.
Slow speeds helped Max Verstappen boost his performance
The qualifying session in Spa saw Lewis Hamilton produce the quickest speeds during sectors 1 and 3, while Verstappen featured in the upper-middle order. The order saw major reshuffling during the main race, with most top-order drivers further down the list. The Red Bull drivers took the final two spots as they exited Sector 1 of the circuit, but in Sector 2, they shined the brightest as they did not have to worry about floor damage if they stayed away from the curves. Windsor compared the qualifying and main race charts to summarize what happened in Belgium in a video.
“He was really slow in the race through sector 1 and sector 3, as I said in the race report, at the time. And he made it all up in Sector 2 where it wasn’t so critical to have to worry about floor damage, provided you stay away from the curves.”
While the slow-ish moving Red Bull were all smiles after the race, the other teams did not have a similar fate. The Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps proved to be unforgiving to those who chose to have an aggressive approach. For example, the Mercedes drivers complained about experiencing bouncing (porpoising) during the race.
Porpoising made life difficult for aggressive drivers in Belgium
After the Belgian GP ended, the most significant talking point came in the form of Mercedes’ drivers complaining about the return of porpoising. Windsor addressed the issue by explaining why Mercedes experienced more porpoising than anyone else.
He explained that the Mercedes cars have not been doing well when they drive on full fuel tanks. The added weight to the cars brings their floor closer to the ground, and as a result, the airflow is disrupted further.
Mercedes’ Mike Elliot claimed their cars were not the only ones to experience bouncing in Belgium. The company’s current CTO (Chief Technical Officer) claimed they saw other cars bounce, too, as they checked the race telemetry.
