Verstappen admits Belgian GP fightback 'will be tough' after taking fourth in Qualifying

Max Verstappen believes it will be “tough” to replicate his Sprint victory in Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix after qualifying in fourth.

The Dutchman controlled Saturday’s Sprint after making use of a low-drag set up to jump Oscar Piastri on the opening lap for the lead. But after adding extra downforce amid concerns of rain for the Grand Prix, Verstappen slipped to P4 in Qualifying.

“We opted a little bit [on the set up] looking for tomorrow, but somehow, the balance didn’t really improve with that change, and that’s a bit weird,” the Red Bull driver explained.

“Especially in Q3, the first set felt awful. The second set, we tried something else, and it just didn’t give me any grip starting the lap.

“So I had a lot of wheelspin starting the lap out of the last corner, and the same thing happened out of Turn 1. I just lost two tenths on my own lap time already, which is not ideal.

“From there, we tried to catch up a bit of lap time. Of course, without that problem in Turn 1, you look quite ok, you are quite close to the McLarens. But overall, it’s not been a very good Qualifying.”

Despite altering his set up for the predicted wet weather, Verstappen was cautious over his chances in Sunday’s Grand Prix.

“I think that will be tough,” he conceded. “First, if it’s wet, you can’t see anything, so you can’t really do anything on lap one.

“I hope that we can fight back to a podium, but normally in the wet conditions, McLaren is also really fast. They have that really under control now with how the engine is operating.

"So I’m not making any kind of illusion, we just need to be realistic, and we just need to work on our balance first of all.”