F1 Belgian GP: Piastri leads Verstappen and Norris in sole Spa practice

McLaren's championship leader Oscar Piastri has set the fastest time in Friday's sole free practice session for Formula 1's Belgian Grand Prix.

Piastri set his fastest lap of 1m42.022s in the closing stages of a one-hour session dominated by set-up work dialling in car upgrades rather than fast times.

No fewer than eight out of 10 teams brought some sort of aerodynamic developments to the Belgian Ardennes, with a mixture of track-specific low-downforce wings and general upgrades as the in-season development race edges towards the finish line.

It meant the first 40 minutes featured limited one-lap action, with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc leading the way on Pirelli's hardest C1 compound.

Most notably there were offs for Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Franco Colapinto in La Source, while Lewis Hamilton went wide through Les Combes, before drawing the ire of Gabriel Bortoleto for an impeding incident through Eau Rouge.

The tempo was finally upped inside the final 15 minutes when drivers tried on the soft C4 compound, with Lance Stroll briefly taking top spot.

Sporting a new low-downforce rear wing on the McLaren MCL39, Piastri went another second quicker than the Aston Martin driver to establish a 1m42.123s lap, which nobody got near to. Piastri then shaved off another tenth in the final minutes to set a 1m42.022s.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

Under the watchful eye of new Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies, world champion Max Verstappen was second after conducting back-to-back tests of Red Bull's new and previous front wings, reporting that his new set-up still felt "weird" with mid-corner understeer. His time of 1m42.426s was four tenths slower than Piastri's benchmark.

Team-mate Lando Norris initially had to abandon his corresponding qualifying sim after dipping his left-hand side on the gravel, but then went second with his next effort before being demoted by Verstappen, albeit half a second adrift of Piastri.

George Russell was dropped to fourth aboard the Mercedes, followed by long-time session leader Leclerc, with the pair shadowed by their respective team-mates Antonelli and Hamilton.

Stroll and Fernando Alonso, who sampled Aston Martin's new front wing assembly, finished in eighth and ninth, with Racing Bulls rookie Isack Hadjar rounding out the top 10 ahead of Williams' Carlos Sainz, who had to sit out the early running due to a fuel system issue on his Williams.

Qualifying for Saturday's sprint race follows at 16:30 local Belgian time.

FP1 result:

Main Information Additional Data Driver Info Driver Info

1

 - 

4

Main Information Additional Data 1  -  2
Cla	Driver	#		Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Interval	Tyres	km/h
1	O. Piastri McLaren	81		McLaren	Mercedes	23	1'42.022		S	247.146
2	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	1		Red Bull	Red Bull	23	+0.404 1'42.426	0.404	S	246.171
3	L. Norris McLaren	4		McLaren	Mercedes	22	+0.504 1'42.526	0.100	S	245.931
4	G. Russell Mercedes	63		Mercedes	Mercedes	27	+0.576 1'42.598	0.072	M	245.759
5	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16		Ferrari	Ferrari	22	+0.906 1'42.928	0.330	S	244.971
6	A. Antonelli Mercedes	12		Mercedes	Mercedes	23	+0.957 1'42.979	0.051	M	244.849
7	L. Hamilton Ferrari	44		Ferrari	Ferrari	24	+1.063 1'43.085	0.106	S	244.598
8	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18		Aston Martin	Mercedes	17	+1.090 1'43.112	0.027	S	244.534
9	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14		Aston Martin	Mercedes	22	+1.098 1'43.120	0.008	S	244.515
10	I. Hadjar RB	6		RB	Honda	19	+1.100 1'43.122	0.002	M	244.510
11	C. Sainz Williams	55		Williams	Mercedes	16	+1.195 1'43.217	0.095	S	244.285
12	A. Albon Williams	23		Williams	Mercedes	24	+1.239 1'43.261	0.044	S	244.181
13	G. Bortoleto Sauber	5		Sauber	Ferrari	25	+1.240 1'43.262	0.001	S	244.178
14	N. Hulkenberg Sauber	27		Sauber	Ferrari	20	+1.448 1'43.470	0.208	S	243.688
15	L. Lawson RB	30		RB	Honda	21	+1.456 1'43.478	0.008	M	243.669
16	E. Ocon Haas F1 Team	31		Haas	Ferrari	22	+1.548 1'43.570	0.092	S	243.452
17	P. Gasly Alpine	10		Alpine	Renault	21	+1.907 1'43.929	0.359	S	242.611
18	Y. Tsunoda Red Bull Racing	22		Red Bull	Red Bull	23	+2.470 1'44.492	0.563	M	241.304
19	F. Colapinto Alpine	43		Alpine	Renault	21	+2.825 1'44.847	0.355	S	240.487
20	O. Bearman Haas F1 Team	87		Haas	Ferrari	22	+3.055 1'45.077	0.230	M	239.961
View full results