How each F1 team is set up for a wet or dry Belgian GP

With the looming threat of rain hanging over the Belgian Grand Prix, the wing choices of Formula 1 teams are likely to play a part in the outcome of the race.

Parc ferme reopened after the sprint race on Saturday morning, so teams had a small window to make any set-up changes before they were locked in for grand prix qualifying and the grand prix itself.

There are a few telltale signs of the choices teams have made.

You can look at sector one times, given the run out of La Source up to the top of Kemmel Straight is flat-out.

But this is vulnerable to being skewed by how a driver navigates the entry and exit of La Source, with multiple drivers making mistakes across the two qualifying sessions.

Belgian GP starting grid

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A better measure is looking at the speed trap differences between sprint and grand prix qualifying.

That speed trap figure can be calculated by subtracting the speed at the top of Eau Rouge/Raidillon from the speed at the end of the Kemmel Straight in each session.

Edd Straw has compiled that data, and the delta between the two sessions, to produce the below table.

Sprint vs GP qualifying delta comparison

That data isn't perfect, given that it can be influenced by drivers receiving a tow on the Kemmel Straight that would increase their speed.

These are also figures with the DRS open in all cases - although of course in the grand prix drivers won't always be using it (and won't use it at all if it's wet). So it's slightly skewed by how efficient each car's DRS is. Plus, when it comes to overtaking in the dry, usually it will be a car without DRS being passed by a car with it.

So it's impossible to be definitive, but it's a decent measure of which drivers have piled on the downforce (or taken it off) after the sprint event.

The Mercedes drivers Kimi Antonelli and George Russell had the biggest increase in top speed between the sprint event and grand prix qualifying, as the team trimmed out its wings after the sprint.

Antonelli will start Sunday's race from the pitlane rather than 18th where he qualified, however, allowing Mercedes to adjust his wing levels to the conditions.

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At the other end of the scale, Liam Lawson's Racing Bulls and Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber had the biggest speed trap decreases.

The Aston Martins are a curious one, with both Fernando Alonso - who has since opted for a pitlane start - and Lance Stroll's speed increasing despite the team suggesting it had added more downforce for qualifying.

Another useful tool is to look at the speed of the cars at the end of the Kemmel Straight in grand prix qualifying, which does have the Aston Martin among the draggier cars.

You can also see that while Esteban Ocon's Haas was slower through the speed trap in grand prix qualifying versus sprint qualifying, he still had the fastest car at the end of the Kemmel Straight in grand prix qualifying.

We know Haas split its drivers' downforce levels, with Ocon's team-mate Ollie Bearman unsurprisingly towards the bottom with a higher-downforce set-up.

The Ferraris also appeared to be trimmed out for the race, although Lewis Hamilton has since opted for a pitlane start.

Meanwhile, Max Verstappen is at the bottom of that chart with a figure of 336.2km/h - again, we know Red Bull switched him to a higher downforce set-up (a higher downforce rear wing with cut-outs) for grand prix qualifying versus the sprint event.

That sets up an interesting race. If the grand prix is wet, you'd imagine Verstappen is well-placed with Leclerc and George Russell's Mercedes potentially lacking downforce in comparison, and the McLaren drivers somewhere in the middle.

But if the rain clears before the race, then the straightline speed advantage Verstappen had over the McLarens in the sprint may be absent.