F1 Belgian GP: Sainz fastest in washed out first practice

The prelude to the sole practice session featured rain, and a wet track greeted the drivers as they sought to cram their sprint weekend preparation into the hour-long running.

Alex Albon was first to brave the conditions on the intermediate tyre, followed by team-mate Logan Sargeant, as Lewis Hamilton emerged on the wet tyre in his first run with Mercedes' new upgrades.

Albon set the first timed lap, a 2m08.394s, as rainfall began to slowly intensify in the early phases of the session. Hamilton's opener on wet tyres was 1.9 seconds slower than the Williams driver's time.

Although Albon looked set to improve on his first time, he was unable to slow down to successfully navigate the Bus Stop chicane and had to retreat to the pits after gathering his car out of the run-off.

Yuki Tsunoda placed his car above Hamilton's in the order by almost 0.2s, and subsequently held control of his AlphaTauri on his next visit to Eau Rouge as his car wiggled halfway up the hill to force him into driving over the Raidillon run-off.

The early running then quickly dried up as the standing water around the seven-kilometre Spa-Francorchamps grew with the worsening rain, although Sainz, Lando Norris, and Sergio Perez elected to brave the conditions on the wet tyres once the session's opening 15 minutes came to an end.

Sainz grabbed a 2m09.081s to slot in behind Albon as he continued to circulate around the circuit, while Norris joined a host of other emerging runners onto the intermediate tyre as track conditions looked to improve slightly.

Pierre Gasly had also taken to the track on the intermediate tyre and was set to beat Albon's lap, but locked up into the Bus Stop. Charles Leclerc instead took over at the top on the wet compound, setting a 2m08.148s.

Norris then eclipsed that on the intermediate tyre with 2m04.484s, 3.7s to the good over Leclerc, but was supplanted by team-mate Oscar Piastri's 2m03.792s. Sainz, on inters, then found half a second on Piastri to set a 2m03.207s.

Sargeant then produced a red flag having gone straight on at the end of the Kemmel Straight, stating that he "couldn't turn" as he applied right-hand lock on the steering wheel with no discernible effect, and came to rest at Les Combes as the car came to rest.

Once the circuit was opened for business once again with 20 minutes remaining, there were no takers as precipitation escalated to saturate the track surface even further.

Perez and Max Verstappen then broke the post-red flag deadlock and emerged on track with intermediate tyres, despite the proliferation of inclement weather suffusing the Ardennes. They managed an installation lap each, before returning to the drier climes of the pit garage.

The Aston Martins performed their own reconnaissance laps on the intermediate, also falling back to the pitlane at the end. Both Ferraris, Haases and Alfa Romeos emerged on the track at the very end of the session, as did Lewis Hamilton, to collect one final token lap.

15 drivers set representative times, with Norris's intermediate lap enough for third in the order ahead of Leclerc - who had the fastest lap on the wet tyre.

Perez was fifth fastest over Albon's session opening time, while Tsunoda was just over a tenth faster than the Haas of Kevin Magnussen.

Daniel Ricciardo's time on wets was good enough for ninth fastest, with Nico Hulkenberg completing the top 10 over Alonso, Hamilton, and George Russell. Valtteri Bottas and Zhou propped up the order of those who had set times, the latter having an off-track moment at Malmedy.

Main Information Additional Data Driver Info Driver Info

       

Driver Info			Main Information Additional Data
Cla	Driver	#		Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h
1	C. Sainz Carlos Sainz Ferrari	55		Ferrari	Ferrari	9	2'03.207		204.650
2	O. Piastri Oscar Piastri McLaren	81		McLaren	Mercedes	4	+0.585	0.585	203.683
3	L. Norris Lando Norris McLaren	4		McLaren	Mercedes	4	+1.277	0.692	202.551
4	C. Leclerc Charles Leclerc Ferrari	16		Ferrari	Ferrari	8	+4.941	3.664	196.759
5	S. Perez Sergio Perez Red Bull Racing	11		Red Bull	Red Bull	5	+5.033	0.092	196.618
6	A. Albon Alex Albon Williams	23		Williams	Mercedes	5	+5.187	0.154	196.383
7	Y. Tsunoda Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri	22		AlphaTauri	Red Bull	8	+5.860	0.673	195.358
8	K. Magnussen Kevin Magnussen Haas F1 Team	20		Haas	Ferrari	7	+6.022	0.162	195.114
9	D. Ricciardo Daniel Ricciardo AlphaTauri	3		AlphaTauri	Red Bull	7	+6.112	0.090	194.978
10	N. Hulkenberg Nico Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team	27		Haas	Ferrari	8	+6.835	0.723	193.894
11	F. Alonso Fernando Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14		Aston Martin	Mercedes	4	+7.076	0.241	193.535
12	L. Hamilton Lewis Hamilton Mercedes	44		Mercedes	Mercedes	7	+7.092	0.016	193.511
13	G. Russell George Russell Mercedes	63		Mercedes	Mercedes	7	+7.268	0.176	193.250
14	V. Bottas Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo	77		Alfa Romeo	Ferrari	9	+8.878	1.610	190.895
15	Z. Guanyu Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo	24		Alfa Romeo	Ferrari	8	+10.795	1.917	188.164
16	L. Sargeant Logan Sargeant Williams	2		Williams	Mercedes	4
17	L. Stroll Lance Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18		Aston Martin	Mercedes	5
18	P. Gasly Pierre Gasly Alpine	10		Alpine	Renault	2
19	E. Ocon Esteban Ocon Alpine	31		Alpine	Renault	2
20	M. Verstappen Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing	1		Red Bull	Red Bull	2
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