Lazy Thoughts on the Belgian GP Sprint

Note: This piece was originally published on my Substack as part of an earlier rollout. I’m archiving it here on Beehiiv for accessibility and continuity. Minor edits may have been made for formatting.

The second half of this year’s F1 season began with a bang for Red Bull Racing, but not the fun kind. Instead, it was the “Your long-time team boss just got sacked! Good luck!” kind. Red Bull Racing axed Christian Horner earlier this month after 20 years at the helm. The man who led the team to eight drivers’ championships and six constructors’ titles was shown the door amid a performance slump and internal turmoil.

I won’t talk about the circumstances behind his firing here; several writers better than me have already done so. But, I will say Horner’s ouster marks the end of an era—and the start of Laurent Mekies’ baptism by fire as the new team principal.

With Horner gone and Mekies in charge, Red Bull Racing arrived at Spa-Francorchamps desperate to turn the tide. The once-dominant squad has been thoroughly outpaced by McLaren lately; their reigning champion, Max Verstappen, now a whopping 69 points behind current WDC leader and McLaren driver Oscar Piastri. It seemed like Red Bull Racing’s aura of invincibility had finally crumbled for good—the firing of their long-time leader only underscoring the chaos. Rumor has it Red Bull even threw the kitchen sink (and a few rear wings) at the RB21 with emergency upgrades. Spa would be the first true test of this brave new (Horner-less) world.

And luckily, the team finally got some good news. After qualifying P2 behind Piastri, Verstappen lunged into the lead as soon as the lights went out. What followed was fifteen laps of sheer grit. Piastri shadowed Verstappen like a curse. Hunting every braking zone but unable to find a crack in the armor.

When the checkered flag fell, Verstappen had held on to P1 by just 0.753 seconds. You could almost hear Mekies breathe on the radio as he congratulated him, “Very, very impressive defense… you didn’t leave anything on the table.” It was the victory Red Bull needed— not just for points, but for Mekies to prove he has a place as the new team principal.

I’m not surprised Verstappen won today, if I’m being honest. Entering Belgium he already held an astonishing 11 sprint wins out of roughly 20 starts, giving him over 55% win rate in the format ever since it was introduced in 2021. What is surprising: it took until Sprint 3 of this season for him to get back to the top step. But maybe this victory is a sign of positive things to come for Red Bull Racing.

Of course, McLaren still struck back with a classic 2‑3 clean sweep behind Verstappen. Piastri kept his head steady throughout, claiming second place and extending his championship lead over teammate Lando Norris to nine points. Norris, recovering after being shuffled behind Leclerc early, settled into third place just 1.414 seconds adrift from Verstappen. The result underscores that McLaren remains dominant on the track this season, even if Red Bull had today’s brief moment in the sun.

Piastri admitted his second-place finish was “a bit frustrating”. But he accepted sprints know no mercy for cars weaker down the straights—especially at Spa. Norris concurred that McLaren needs to “reassess” before qualifying later, indicating small adjustments haven’t yet solved the balance in windy Spa conditions.

And considering Norris is on pole for the race proper, it looks like those adjustments were made in time. Whether they’ll be enough to keep Verstappen at bay over a full-distance Grand Prix—especially if the weather gods get involved—is anyone’s guess.

But I guess we’ll find that out tomorrow.

And now, for some thoughts I had that don’t tie into the main article:

That’s all for now. See you at the race tomorrow.

-Flower