BELGIAN GP – Max Verstappen fastest by half a second in FP1 ahead of Oscar Piastri
Max Verstappen was fastest in first practice for this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix the dutchman set a 43.372 on the medium tyre to put himself over half a second faster than Oscar Piastri. The three-time champion goes into one of his home Grands Prix carrying a ten-place grid penalty for exceeding his ICE allocation. It means that, wherever Verstappen qualifies on Saturday, the world champion will start Sunday from no higher than eleventh on the grid.
But Verstappen looked competitive in the first session of the weekend, though it looks unlikely given how the pack has closed up he is looking for his fourth consecutive win at Spa-Francorchamps, one of his home Grands Prix, they have all come despite him having grid penalties. His improvement from his first to the fastest lap was a second and a half.
Alex Albon put his Williams third fastest a quarter of a second behind the McLaren with George Russell fourth after going just over half a second ahead of his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton. But both Mercedes looked to struggle with “bouncing” during the race simulations and the rear end, with the team bringing more upgrades for this weekend.
The car, which has shown major improvement since the start of the campaign thanks to a series of successful upgrades in recent months particularly, includes a new front wing, beam wing and diffuser, plus revisions to the floor and Halo fairing flaps.
Russell and Hamilton had led the pack out of the pits during what was overall a calm session for the field, Verstappen quickly established himself at the top of the order during the early running on the hard and medium tyres. The three-time champion improved by a second and a half during the opening hour.
Charles Leclerc was sixth, he put his Ferrari nearly three hundredths behind Hamilton, following a late attempt on mediums. Sergio Perez could only go seventh nearly a second off Verstappen, not the best start to the final race before the summer break. Under pressure as Red Bull are intending to assess and decide on his future during August.
Lando Norris put his McLaren eighth as he was a tenth and a quarter behind Perez as the British-Belgian driver went a tenth and a half faster than Carlos Sainz. Lance Stroll completed the top ten he was a tenth and a quarter behind the Ferrari.
Pierre Gasly missed out on the top ten by just over a tenth the Alpine going nine hundredths faster than Fernando Alonso. Gasly’s teammate in the Deadpool & Wolverine movie-themed livery, Esteban Ocon didn’t manage to set a time after a water leak during his out lap.
Daniel Ricciardo was thirteenth ahead of Valtteri Bottas and Logan Sargeant, his RB teammate Yuki Tsunoda was seven-tenths behind in sixteenth. Tsunoda joining Verstappen with grid penalties this weekend after taking on new power unit components.
The two Haas’ followed with Nico Hulkenberg a tenth and half faster than teammate Kevin Magnussen, with Guanyu Zhou the final driver to set a time in nineteenth.