SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium — Max Verstappen is approaching Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix as a damage limitation exercise as he prepares to start the race from 11th on the grid.

The Red Bull driver set the fastest time in qualifying at Spa-Francorchamps, but has a 10-place grid penalty for exceeding his engine quota.

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This marks the third year in a row Verstappen has been fastest in qualifying but dropped positions due to a grid penalty at the Belgian Grand Prix, with the three-time champion winning from 14th place in 2022 and from sixth place in 2023.

Verstappen has a 76-point lead over Lando Norris, who starts fourth on Sunday’s grid, and said Sunday’s race will be more about limiting damage to his championship lead than going for the win.

“I need to survive lap one and just go from there!” Verstappen said.

“We also have a bit of a different tyre strategy to the other cars so we have to wait and see how that will evolve in the race, but yeah we’ll see what we can do.

“I mean I’m of course not as confident as I was the last two years around here in coming back to the front. I still see more as like a damage limitation race.

“That’s how it is but at least today was the best possible we could do in terms of the starting position for tomorrow.”

Based on Friday practice, Verstappen believes McLaren has the best race pace and will be difficult to pass on Sunday.

“Looking at their pace yesterday in the long run, it’s incredibly strong,” he said. “They look very comfortable out there.”

“Of course, they are starting a little bit further back, I think they’re so fast they will quite quickly challenge for the front, for the lead. And it also depends a bit, of course, how I get through lap one and stuff. But I would already be happy if we can match that race pace.

“So starting a bit further back, also being on different tyres, I don’t know how that is going to work out. Most teams around us have two hard tyres, we don’t.

“I don’t know if that’s better or not, of course, for the moment, but we’ll find out tomorrow. But, yeah. It’s definitely still a damage limitation.”

Verstappen opted for a relatively high-downforce rear wing compared to some of his competitors, which likely helped in the wet conditions during qualifying but could prove a limitation if it increases his drag level on the straights relative to rival cars.

However, he believes the larger rear wing will help him look after his tyres in a dry race, which in turn will pay off in terms of overall competitiveness.

“I just hope that it’s better for me but when you of course look at the McLaren [starting in fourth and fifth] for example they’re in a very skinny wing,” he said.

“It seems to work for them but it didn’t really work for me yesterday so yeah a bit of a different strategy also there and I guess we’ll find out tomorrow how it will work out.

“I mean I have to pass cars. The DRS effect is quite big around here but at the end of the day I think it’s more important just to be good on tyres around here because if you’re good on tyres you can you can pass people.”