Mercedes on the backfoot?

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

With just one p🧸ractice 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 sess🃏ion of running isn’t sufficient time to optimise the setup.

Let’s take Hungary as an example.

168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史: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 ov꧙ernight 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 faile🦩d to score a single point in the opening two races in Bahrain and Saౠudi Arabia.

Their recent upgrade was expected to move them ahe♏ad of their midfiel𓄧d 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 pro𓂃gre🥀ss mid-season with an upgrade.

In Britain and Hungary, McLaren were the sec🅰ond-fastest team behind 𓂃Red Bull.

Their form will be a serious cause for concern for Fe🔴rrari and McLaren.

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

Finishing third in t🍷he constructors’ championship is surely a serious possibility for the Woking✅ outfit now.

Verstappen’s biggest margin yet?

168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Max Verstappen reached a new level of dominance last time out at the Hungaroring, finishing over 33 seconds clear of 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史: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, Verstap𒉰pen won the Belgian Gr൩and 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 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Sergio Perez’s underperformance continues.

Safety concerns

F1 returns to Spa less than a month after the death of 18-year-old Dutc🍒h 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 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Lance Stroll,ཧ to call for changes to the famous Bel🔯gian circuit.

Fingers crossed this weekend goes smoothly with all drivers acr🧔oss all categories coming away from Belgiܫum safely.

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