F1 LIVE | Can Verstappen deny McLaren the sprint win at Spa?

After pulling a rabbit out of the hat yesterday by placing his RB21 between the two McLarens, Max Verstappen hopes to build on that strong showing in today’s sprint race.

It’s certainly no easy task, considering he finished the sprint qualifying in second place—almost half a second behind an almost alien-like Oscar Piastri in his MCL39.

Most likely, the answer is no, given the clear superiority shown by the MCL39.

However, the Dutchman benefits from a much lower downforce aerodynamic setup compared to McLaren.

This could give him an advantage at the start, increasing his chances of overtaking Piastri on the long Kemmel Straight.

It’s hard to imagine Charles Leclerc being in the mix for the battle for victory. The Monegasque managed to salvage some ground yesterday by qualifying his SF-25 in fourth place, while his teammate shockingly failed to make it past SQ1, setting the third-worst time.

A tough race is expected for Mercedes as well, with Kimi Antonelli starting from the very back of the grid and George Russell lining up only in 13th place.

So who will cross the finish line first? All that’s left is to wait for the lights to go out at 12:00 local time.