Van der Garde: "I hope for Albon to get close, but don't expect it"

This weekend it's time for the seventh round of the Formula 1 championship of 2020 and for that we will settle down in the Belgian Ardennes. Spa-Francorchamps, a beautiful circuit, has proven to be a bit shaky in results for Verstappen so far. In 2018 it took third place, but the year before and after it fell out. This weekend he has a new chance and Giedo van der Garde expects that the Dutchman will be able to achieve a nice result.

Performance of Racing Point

The biggest competitor of Red Bull Racing is of course Mercedes, but also Racing Point has proven to be a good competitor this year. Are they a danger? Van der Garde says in an interview with GPblog.com: "I think they could be good.

"Racing Point has always performed well at Spa. They came in second with Fisichella a while ago and actually they did go fast every year, they have something to do with it. I think they always find a good set-up there and now they have a really good car, which they can use to compete for the podium."

But then of course you always have Max Verstappen and he can put a stop to that. "As long as Max keeps doing his thing and showing what he has done in the past races, I'm more likely to see Max on the podium than a Racing Point." This is partly due to the experience the Dutchman has on the track, Spa-Francorchamps is well known territory after all.

"Spa is really a driver's circuit, you can make a bit more of a difference as a driver than on other tracks. Max thinks it's a cool track and of course he's had good results on it in the past. I think the gap will be the same as the last race". Of course Red Bull Racing still has Alexander Albon, but Van der Garde doesn't expect any details from him: "I hope for Albon he gets a little closer and finds the connection, but I don't expect it."

Rainy weather

The circuit in Belgium is extra interesting around this time of year because of the weather conditions that can be completely different every day. Rain is predicted for the time being, so that can change the whole situation and make for a nice race. Van der Garde finds it interesting in case it rains.

The Dutch former F1-driver says: "When it rains, it can be quite interesting, because when it rains really hard you have a lot of spray. If it rains, you will see that a safety car will soon appear. But if it is wet, but it doesn't rain a lot, then the spray will not be too bad and that could be an interesting race. In the rain you can make a bigger difference as a driver than on a dry track."

In collaboration with Corwin Kunst.