McLaren aims big even though Max Verstappen overshadowed both Lando Norris & Oscar Piastri

Max Verstappen stormed to pole position in the Belgian GP qualifying session, with McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri trailing by a whopping eight-tenths of a second. Despite the gap in qualifying, Team Boss Andrea Stella remains optimistic about the race.

Norris and Piastri could only manage to set the fifth and sixth fastest times in the rain-affected qualifying session. With Verstappen taking a 10-place grid penalty, both drivers will gain one position, starting behind Charles Leclerc, Sergio Perez, and Lewis Hamilton.

Andrea Stella elaborated on the team's performance in the wet qualifying session, emphasizing that their setups are geared towards the Grand Prix, which is expected to be held in dry conditions. He stated that while Max Verstappen and Red Bull opted for higher downforce, McLaren focused on top speed, which will be crucial for the race.

The McLaren team principal acknowledged they had to compromise their qualifying pace for a better car on Sunday. He also mentioned that all four teams were close to each other on intermediate tires. He told Sky Sports F1:

"We didn’t want to compromise our setup for today’s conditions because we know that tomorrow we need the top speed. We were ready to pay a bit of a price in qualifying because we want to have the most raceable car tomorrow in dry conditions."

"At the moment every weather forecast model is predicting dry, so we wanted to make sure that we didn’t have a glorious Saturday and then a car that is not in condition to capitalise on Sunday. So from this point of view, I think we are not in a bad position to have a good race tomorrow," he added.

Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez will start on the front row ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris on the second row. The other McLaren of Oscar Piastri starts on the third row, beside George Russell.

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Lando Norris hopes McLaren's qualifying sacrifices will pay dividends tomorrow

Lando Norris seemed to be on the back foot in the first two rounds of qualifying, while his teammate Oscar Piastri was setting the quickest times. However, both McLaren drivers struggled in the Q3 session, with Norris barely edging out his teammate.

The 24-year-old Brit was happy with his fourth-place starting position, given the tricky conditions. He remains hopeful that their setup compromises will pay off in the race.

"So to still have got away with a P5, I was actually surprised with and therefore happy with. It’s not like the result I wanted, honestly. And you’ve still got to overtake some quick cars tomorrow, like the Red Bull of Perez, and things like that," Norris told Sky Sports F1.

"I think maybe the slightly lower downforce that we have has potentially hurt us a little bit today and hopefully kind of pays us back tomorrow," he added.

The 44-lap Belgian GP is shaping up to be a thriller, with Max Verstappen and the McLaren drivers aiming to charge to the front.