Andrea Stella in the press conference

Red Bull Racing feels the ground shake after Stella's major warning!

13:44, 21 Jul

Updated: 17:15, 21 Jul

byNorberto Mujica

McLaren's dominance in the 2025 F1 season is no fluke, and the team's way of approaching their season is a testament to that. Ahead of the Belgian GP in Spa, the Woking-based outfit has yet another advantage in their pocket.

Silverstone plays an essential role in McLaren's F1 race weekend in Spa-Francorchamps

The upcoming Grand Prix is to be held in the Belgian Ardennes at the legendary track Spa-Francorchamps.

Red Bull Racing is expected to introduce an upgrade package to Max Verstappen's and Yuki Tsunoda's cars, but with it being a sprint race weekend, the team will only have 1 free practice session to find the right setup.

McLaren's methodical approach to their F1 season though, highlights how the papaya coloured team has the upper-hand on all their rivals.

For the last race, in Silverstone, McLaren premiered an updated floor, but only during the first free practice session. The Woking-based team's principal Andrea Stella revealed this was done with a keen eye on the Belgian Grand Prix.

''The plan was always going to be that the floor was a test floor,'' the Italian said to media including GPblog after the qualifying session where both his drivers fell to Max Verstappen's efforts.

Why was the floor to be a test-only part at Silverstone? ''To have an early read as to this new specification, even because the next race is a sprint event in which it is more difficult to introduce a new specification and make the proper comparisons,'' the Italian explained.

Lando Norris celebrated second of so far two back-to-back wins at his home race at Silverstone.

McLaren is set to introduce the already tested floor at Spa

What was the verdict then on the upgraded floor? ''We are actually pretty pleased with what we have seen yesterday in Free Practice 1 and all the indications seem to lead us to introduce this new floor for the coming events.''

Whilst Red Bull will introduce an upgrade package in Belgium, which GPblog understands it's to be of paramount importance in Verstappen's evaluation ahead of his decision to either stay at Red Bull or leave, McLaren's ability to think ahead, may render them victorious in the Belgian Ardennes.

Pirelli is skipping a compound in their tyre allocation for the Belgian Grand Prix, bringing the C1, C3 and C4 compounds. Managing to find the right setup has proven hard enough for the Austrian team, let alone without having to introduce upgrades and Pirelli's spanner-in-the-works decision.