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Formula 1 Belgian GP

F1 Belgian GP Live Updates - final practice and qualifying

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Well, if that late flurry is what we can expect from Ferrari in qualifying, then it really is in more trouble than we thought. Thankfully for fans of the scarlet cars, they will get another shot at it later on...
"The traffic is a nightmare, at the start of the lap it's impossible," complains Leclerc - echoing Russell's earlier comments.
As the chequered flag comes out, the fastest Ferrari is currently 1.8s off the pace. Crikey.
Ferrari are really struggling here, with Leclerc P17 and Vettel plumb last.
"Oh my God, what a joke," complains George Russell over the radio. Presumably the Williams man is not impressed by all the traffic out on track at the moment.
Bottas is still fifth having had a massive lock-up into Turn 1, followed by a huge moment of oversteer on corner exit.
Now Hamilton moves back to the top with a 1m43.255s, 0.2s up on Ocon, with Norris moving up to third and Albon to fourth.
Ocon goes quickest! A 1m43.48s for the Frenchman, as Stroll moves up to fourth behind Bottas and Verstappen.
Lots of drivers slowing down in the final sector to make sure they're far enough behind the car ahead to not get caught in the dirty air - but in doing so, they'll be losing tyre temperature through the Bus Stop chicane. All a compromise, this F1 lark...
A quick reminder before these final runs - it's currently Bottas from Verstappen by 0.083s, then Hamilton, Perez, Gasly, Ocon, Magnussen, Norris, Albon and Ricciardo.
And almost everybody else now follows except for Magnussen. Everybody running on soft tyres.
Sainz, Grosjean and the Alfas start the flurry of cars going out for their final runs with a little under 8 minutes on the clock.
One man who might be eager to get out on track in the closing stages is Lance Stroll, who is down in 11th - a full 0.8s behind team-mate Perez in third.
Magnussen's soft-tyre run to seventh means he's currently the best-placed of the Ferrari-powered drivers and the only one in the top 10. Next closest is Leclerc in 13th, with Grosjean P16, Vettel P17 and the Alfa Romeos of Giovinazzi and Raikkonen filling the field in P19-20.
Just 12 minutes of the track running available before qualifying - will we see anybody else attempt a last qualifying simulation and move up the order?
Looks like a new nosecone is going onto Hamilton's Mercedes - perhaps his team trying a tweak to get more performance out of his W11.
Incidentally, Raikkonen's deleted lap was a 1m45.425, which would have slotted him just above Leclerc in 13th place.
Now Gasly is back in the pits, leaving Raikkonen with the track to himself.
Oh dear - Raikkonen finally sets a time, only to see it deleted for violating track limits exiting the Bus Stop chicane with a big snap of oversteer getting back on the throttle. The 2007 champion remains rooted to the bottom of the times for the moment.
We're in a bit of a quiet lull now as only Gasly and - at last - Raikkonen (on softs) are currently circulating.
Ocon, Magnussen, Norris, Albon and Ricciardo round out the top 10 at present, with Ferrari languishing 13th (Leclerc) and 17th (Vettel).
We've not talked about him much today, but Pierre Gasly is continuing his impressive run of form in 2020 with the fifth-quickest time so far for AlphaTauri with a 1m44.718s on the medium tyres behind only Bottas, Verstappen, Hamilton and Perez.
"There's something stuck or something loose in the pedals," reports Magnussen. That's hardly ideal.
Early pace-setter (by virtue of being the only man on track) Magnussen moves up to seventh with a decent lap on the soft tyres. He's only 1s off Bottas - one thinks Haas would bite your hand off for that in qualifying...
Still no timed laps yet for 2004 and 2009 Spa winner Kimi Raikkonen - he's the only man yet to set a time, although the Alfa Romeo driver has done a couple of installation laps.
Big moment for Vettel at Les Combes, the rear-end steps out as he attacks the kerb for the first apex, and he locks the left-front to regain control.
"The brakes are poor, I cannot attack the brakes at all. They're just poor," reports Kvyat. He's P11 at the moment in the AlphaTauri.
We're now halfway through the session - funny how having lots to talk about makes the time pass a lot quicker.
Leclerc is running on mediums in the Ferrari, but is still outside the top 10 - 1.8s off the pace in 12th. Vettel three places worse off in 15th.
Hamilton improves on his earlier effort, but is still three tenths down on Bottas - his best effort so far a 1m44.138s for the six-times world champion and 2020 points leader.
Ocon is so far the quickest man in the flat-out first sector that includes Eau Rouge and Radillon, Bottas in the more technical middle sector that includes the double-apex Pouhon and Kvyat fastest in the final sector. Mixed.
Strong effort from Verstappen to slot himself into second, just a smidgen behind Bottas on a 1m43.896s.
Both Williams and Giovinazzi also set their times on softs - they sit P11-13 - while Verstappen too is on softs.
After that initial flurry of times, Vettel sits ninth for Ferrari on medium tyres. There's a yawning 2s gap between himself and Bottas, although with the caveat that the Merc set its time on softs.
Ocon goes fourth on medium tyres for Renault, pushing Albon - also on mediums - down to fifth.
Intriguingly, Perez goes third on hard tyres - 0.7s off Bottas in Racing Point's 'pink Mercedes'. Impressive stuff from the Mexican.
Normal service is now resumed as Lewis Hamilton shoots to the top of the times on softs - although he's swiftly beaten by team-mate Bottas. 1m43.813s for Bottas, 0.6s up on his team-mate.

By: Jake Boxall-Legge

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