McLaren desperate to avoid Lap 1 Spa drama

The 2025 Belgian Grand Prix shapes up to be the latest duel between teammates Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, but McLaren has already taken a step to “minimise trouble” and possibly negate early racing.

When the 13th round of an intriguing 2025 Formula 1 season begins, lights will go out in front of an all-McLaren front row.

Despite the Australian holding the early high ground, it is Norris, who will start from pole ahead of Piastri.

Marking the start of the second half of the season, and with the title contenders split by just nine points, Belgium offers a lot more than simply bragging rights for the winner as momentum and the championship could swing significantly towards the lead McLaren.

But the battle for the lead may be tamed initially with McLaren ordering its title contenders to treat the opening laps carefully.

Spa has a number of danger zones early on, most notably the La Source hairpin and Les Combes at the end of the long run down the Kemmel Straight.

Throw in the element of forecast heavy rain, and there are a lot of variables that could make a Belgian Grand Prix victory very difficult.

But McLaren is desperate to avoid early disaster and does not want to repeat the same mistake Mercedes made in 2014.

On that occasion, the “Silver Arrows” were allowed to race, and Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg clashed at Les Combes, leaving the Brit with a puncture and the German with a broken front wing, creating a clear path to victory for Daniel Ricciardo.

With this in mind, McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella has told his drivers to “minimise trouble” in the early stages.

“I think both drivers will try, first of all, to have the fastest run through corner one,” he said.

“I guess positioning for the one that will be in P2, positioning the car in order to be able to take the slipstream, will be potentially a decisive factor. 

“I have to say that based on the weather forecast, this is not necessarily going to happen in dry conditions.

“So if it’s wet it will be even more interesting, because Eau Rouge may not be easy flat, like it is nowadays on lap 1 in a Formula 1 car.

“Certainly, what I will tell the drivers is that lap one is just lap one of 44, and when you have such a good competitive car, you just have to make sure that we minimise the trouble during lap 1. 

“Then if we execute the race in the best possible way, I think we will be in condition to regain the possibility to win the race, even if lap 1 doesn’t go according to the outcome of qualifying.

“There’s certainly some planning that you can do, but ultimately you have to let the drivers make their own assessment, their own judgement.”

The Belgian Grand Prix starts at 23.00 AEST on Fox Sports/Kayo.

Image: McLaren

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