By Alan Baldwin
SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium (Reuters) -Formula One’s Spa weekend marks a new start for Red Bull and reigning world champion Max Verstappen as the team go racing for the first time without Christian Horner at the helm.
The Briton’s sudden sacking after a 20-year reign of rare success, including the most dominant of seasons in 2023, has had the sport buzzing for weeks with plenty of questions to be asked in Belgium.
A Saturday sprint will be the first race of new boss Laurent Mekies’ tenure and the change, and how it affects four-times world champion Verstappen’s future, remains the big talking point of the moment.
Horner has made no public comment and Red Bull’s preview for the 13th round of the 24-race season made no mention of him.
“I was back at the factory last week to spend some time in the sim(ulator) with the team and I’m looking forward to working closely with Laurent,” Belgian-born Verstappen was quoted as saying.
Mekies, promoted from Racing Bulls who have handed over the reins to Alan Permane, arrives with Red Bull fourth overall and Verstappen a distant third in the drivers’ standings behind McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.
That intra-team title battle is likely to have some extra sizzle at Spa-Francorchamps as Norris seeks a third win in a row — new territory for the Briton — and the chance to take over at the top.
The sprint format offers more points than usual and Norris, whose mother is Belgian, is only eight behind the Australian going to a high-speed track that is a favourite for most drivers.
Piastri, despite his generally unruffled exterior, may also be still simmering at the 10 second penalty that cost him a win in Britain and handed victory to Norris.
He will want to hit back as Formula One kicks off a Belgium/Hungary double-header — the first fast and often wet while the second is twisty and hot — before the long August break.
George Russell, his contract expiring at the end of the season and in danger of losing his Mercedes seat to Verstappen or having him as an uncomfortable teammate, is also not short of motivation.
The Briton was stripped of victory last year at Spa when post-race checks found his car to be underweight, handing victory to then-teammate Lewis Hamilton in what remains the seven-times champion’s most recent win in F1.
Ferrari have yet to triumph, other than a Shanghai sprint, since Hamilton moved from Mercedes to Maranello in January but they are gathering momentum.
The Italian team are second overall and Charles Leclerc has secured three podiums in the last five races while Hamilton was fourth at Silverstone.
Nico Hulkenberg will also be getting back to business at Sauber after an emotional first podium at the 239th attempt at Silverstone ended his unwanted record of most races without a top three finish.
Sauber, the future Audi works team, are on the move and have scored the fourth most points of any outfit on the grid over the last four races.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Christian Radnedge)
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