Formula 1: the Belgian GP tests had a miraculous parade by Verstappen, who will start last Sunday

the Dutch Max Verstappen and the Monegasque Charles Leclercthe main contenders for the World Cup crown Formula 1will start on Sunday from the bottom of the grid in Belgian Grand Prixfourteenth competition of the season.

In the first tests this Friday, both teams showed their good pace. But it was the champion who brought out his good reflexes, despite the holiday break. It was while he was avoiding a collision with the car Nicola Latifi in the pit lane, due to an oversight by the mechanics of Williams which could end in tragedy.

Latifi’s team gave the Canadian the order to get out of the pits without taking into account that Max was coming at full speed, ready to hit the track to break into his car. He was thanks to a savings diversion that the Dutch escaped completely hitting his colleague.

strategy game

Ferrari decided to replace the F1-75 engine from the race stock and almost immediately Red Bull followed suit by making the same modification to the championship leader’s RB18.

Both drivers will mount two new hybrid engines in their cars, a situation that will be replicated in the Frenchman’s Alpine-Renault Stefano Oconwho will also be relegated to the bottom of the starting grid at Spa-Francorchamps.

It will be necessary to see if this decision will pay off the title candidates on a circuit where overtaking is more frequent than on other tracks or if it favors those ahead of the championship to fill the gap.

Paradoxically, before the start of action in Belgium, the Dutch world champion declared that he preferred the dispute he has with Leclerc for the crown to the one he held last year with the seven-time British world champion. Lewis Hamiltonfrom Mercedes.

Verstappen, who leads with 258 points and 80 clear of the Monegasque, will not have an easy time looking for his third consecutive victory in a championship in which he celebrated eight victories, the last in Hungary, before the break in the highest category.

With nine more races to go until the end of the season, the situation of the Red Bull driver and his colleague Ferrari risks giving a further dose of morbidity to the definition.

A year ago the Dutchman celebrated his first win at Spa-Francorchamps starting from pole position and in torrential rain, a scenario that could be repeated this weekend only in terms of weather conditions, as pole position will remain in different hands due to to the penalty that the championship leader will suffer.

In Belgium, the new regulations approved to reduce the “porspoising” effect will also come into force, which could mean an additional advantage for other pilots.

Rehearsal on Friday

The Spanish Carlos Sainz (Ferrari), fifth in the Formula 1 World Championship, set the best time this Friday in the first free practice for the Belgian Grand Prixon the Spa-Francorchamps circuit.

In his best lap Sainz covered – with soft rubber – the 7.004 meters of the legendary Ardennes track in one minute, 46 seconds and 538 thousandths, 69 less than his companion, the Monegasque Charles Leclerc; and with 217 over the Dutch Max Verstappen (Red Bull), exceptional World Cup leader – with 80 points more than the previous one -, who set the third fastest time of the session.

The second training session will start at 12 (Argentine time).

With information from Agencies