Since the 2023 Formula 1 season started, Red Bull had a mega DRS advantage that suddenly just disappeared at the Hungarian GP, owing to which Lewis Hamilton got his first pole position in 33 races. This happened the weekend after Max Verstappen announced how Red Bull would bring a set of upgrades to the Hungarian GP that would give them another two-tenths of an advantage. Considering the upgrades weren’t as effective as they’d hoped, Hamilton didn’t pass up the opportunity to take a dig at the Milton-Keynes squad.

In an interview with Sky Sports after qualifying at the Hungaroring, Hamilton said, “I mean, they’ve still got the DRS, but they don’t have the DRS advantage all of a sudden that they used to have. Where did that go?” The seven-time champion may have spoken too soon because that same DRS advantage bit him in the back the following weekend at the Belgian GP. In the fast and flowing yet twisty Spa-Francorchamps, Verstappen got pole position by nearly a second. He converted that pole to a 45th race win by over 22 seconds.

Spa’s first and third sectors are predominantly straights, where Red Bull’s DRS advantage was mega. After seeing Red Bull’s performance on the straights, Mercedes engineer Mike Elliott said as quoted by Auto Motor und Sport, “Unbelievable time gain by Red Bull with their rear wings opened in Spa. If we superimpose the speed curves, we can hardly believe it ourselves.” As per the data, at the end of the Kemmel straight, Hamilton’s W14’s top speed was only 333kmph. In contrast, Verstappen and Sergio Perez’s RB19s reached 340.8kmph and 338.8kmph.

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With more than a 5kmph advantage on the straights, it became evident that the DRS speed Red Bull seemingly lost in Hungary—that Hamilton insulted—returned in full force in Belgium. To balance the scales, Max Verstappen took a dig at Hamilton and Mercedes, too, in Belgium.

Max Verstappen flexed his dominance over Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes

A race weekend at Spa wouldn’t be complete without a few last-minute weather changes. That’s precisely what happened before the Sprint race on Saturday—a quick but intense rain shower, because of which the race was set to have a rolling start behind the Safety Car, with every driver on Wet tires. By the start of the race, the conditions were dry enough for Intermediate tires. Instead of pitting for them behind the SC at the start, Max Verstappen continued on the wet tires for the first lap while Hamilton pitted, choosing that strategy to gain places by undercutting drivers. While he did make up places, he did it unconventionally.

After Verstappen pitted in the second lap, he came out in second behind Oscar Piastri. Given his car’s superiority, retaking the lead didn’t take him any time. After the race, when Christian Horner radioed in and said, “The strategy was definitely the safer one,” Max replied, “Yeah, I think we did the right thing. The other one was too risky.” And just to take a dig at Hamilton and the other drivers who opted for the other strategy, he added, “It also makes it a bit more fun to pass on track!”

What did you think of what Lewis Hamilton said about Red Bull?

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