Oscar Piastri finished fastest in the first free practice for the Belgian Grand Prix. Max Verstappen drove his upgraded Red Bull to second place, followed by Lando Norris.
As the thick fog lifted in Spa and the sun occasionally broke through, the twenty drivers prepared for the first and only free practice on the beloved circuit in the Ardennes. Due to the sprint weekend, the next session will focus on the sprint race qualification, making this an important practice.
This is precisely the time when you don’t want to encounter any problems so that you can thoroughly test and adjust the intended setup if necessary. However, this doesn’t apply to Carlos Sainz in the opening phase of the session. There seems to be an issue with the fuel system of his Williams, and the Spaniard is instructed to slowly return to the pits.
One person who is not crawling around the track at a snail’s pace is Max Verstappen. The Red Bull driver loves this track and immediately sets the tone on the Belgian asphalt. The large upgrade package, including a new front wing, appears to be a step in the right direction. Verstappen will have to do without his regular race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase again this weekend, who is missing the race due to personal circumstances.
In addition to Red Bull, Ferrari has also brought a large upgrade package to Spa, with significant changes made to the rear wheel suspension. This could work out well, but it also carries a risk as there is only one free practice to test this. With half an hour to go, Charles Leclerc tops the timesheet. The upgrade seems to be working well for the Italian team.
In the final phase, most drivers switch to the soft tyre to simulate a qualifying run. Lance Stroll immediately clocks the fastest time, but is quickly outpaced by almost a second by Oscar Piastri. Verstappen has to concede four tenths to the McLaren driver and finishes second, just ahead of Lando Norris.
The sprint qualification starts today at 14:30 UTC.
