Marc Priestley spots ‘rare’ Red Bull mistake that cost Max Verstappen at Spa

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Red Bull Racing would have hoped for so much more than they got from the Belgian Grand Prix.

Although Max Verstappen started the race from 11^th after taking a 10-place grid penalty before qualifying for an engine change, he was so much faster than the rest of the field on Saturday that he was seen as an outside shot of winning the race.

For Sergio Perez, it was essential that he had a strong race given the pressure on his future.

He finally delivered after a strong performance in qualifying, finishing third but being promoted to the front row thanks to Verstappen’s penalty.

However, that’s where the positives ended for Red Bull who lost further ground on McLaren and Mercedes in the Constructors’ Championship.

Verstappen made up three places on the opening laps but then got stuck behind Lando Norris who had a difficult start that ultimately prevented him from challenging for a podium.

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It was a far from convincing performance from Perez who should have been able to capitalise on his front row start much better than he did.

He was quickly losing places heading down to turn four, unable to stay in the DRS of the car in front and having no way to defend from those behind him.

Marc Priestley was commentating on the race for BBC Sport and wasn’t impressed by what he saw from Red Bull.

Off the back of the Hungarian Grand Prix when Verstappen criticised Red Bull’s strategy throughout the race, the team needed to nail their calls at Spa.

Unfortunately, they were caught out – as was the rest of the grid to an extent – by how difficult it was to overtake and how well the tyres were holding up on a freshly laid track.

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Marc Priestley left unimpressed by Red Bull strategy at Spa

Verstappen was the first driver out of the front runners to pit during the first stint and that gained him a couple of places.

However, Perez was forced to come in far too soon to pit again as he was at risk of holding Verstappen up with Norris quickly closing him down.

Commenting on how Red Bull’s strategy calls played out across the race weekend, Priestley said: “This is a rare occurrence where Red Bull have got their strategy strong.

“They opted to use their hard tyres earlier in the weekend and were left with these mediums.

“They could be left floundering.”

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Red Bull have key dilemmas to solve after the summer break

The majority of the Formula 1 world would have expected Red Bull to be planning their end-of-season celebrations already at this point of the season.

Verstappen and Perez were comfortably the two fastest drivers at the beginning of the campaign but that advantage has quickly gone away.

The update package delivered in Hungary hasn’t given Red Bull the advantage they would have liked and the way Perez fell away will concern his bosses.

Their triple world champion has now gone four races without a win for the first time since 2020.

He slightly extended his lead over Norris in the Drivers’ Championship, but the Constructors’ title is far from safe with 10 race weekends to go.