F1 Today | Verstappen's bad luck and a postponed session at Spa-Francorchamps

22:02, 25 Jul

Updated: 22:28, 25 Jul

byLuke-John Buckle

Missed out on July 25th's Formula 1 news? Here are GPBlog's top stories from today, amongst all the action at Spa-Francorchamps.

Verstappen is without Lambiase at Spa

Max Verstappen has been the driver to beat for much of the ground effect era, and a key part of the four-time world champion's success has been Gianpiero Lambiase.

The race engineer has developed a critical relationship with Verstappen, enabling them to communicate seamlessly throughout a Grand Prix.

Verstappen is having to do without his usual race engineer for the Belgian Grand Prix weekend who is absent due to personal reasons.

Veteran engineer Simon Rennie, currently Group Leader of Simulation Engineering will be working with Verstappen this weekend.

The weekend started well for the Dutchman despite the absence of Lambiase, as he qualified in second position in Sprint Qualifying.

He has gone with a lower downforce setup this weekend, which allows the Red Bull to be very quick on the straights in sectors one and three. The trade-off is a lack of ultimate performance in the high-speed turns throughout the middle sector.

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FIA F3 practice was postponed at Spa

The Belgian Grand Prix weekend at Spa-Francorchamps is, of course, headlined by Formula 1, but there is a hectic support bill in Belgium.

Formula 2 are also racing twice this weekend as well as FIA F3 which gives the young drivers a chance to impress under the nose of the Formula 1 team bosses.

Formula 3 was scheduled to be the first cars out on the circuit in the morning, but couldn't get practice underway due to a significant amount of fog.

The fog had little impact on the rest of the weekend as it cleared before Formula 1 hit the track. FIA F3 were also able to complete their scheduled practice and qualifying session on Friday.