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Charles Bradley

F1 results: Verstappen fastest in Belgian GP practice on Friday

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was fastest in FP1, which was interrupted by a red flag and rain, before Verstappen topped FP2 with the fastest time of the day.

Belgian Grand Prix FP1 results: Sainz fastest from Leclerc

Cla Driver Chassis Laps Time Gap Interval km/h
1 Spain Carlos Sainz Ferrari 16 1'46.538     236.670
2 Monaco Charles Leclerc Ferrari 16 1'46.607 0.069 0.069 236.517
3 Netherlands Max Verstappen Red Bull 10 1'46.755 0.217 0.148 236.189
4 United Kingdom George Russell Mercedes 13 1'47.396 0.858 0.641 234.779
5 Canada Lance Stroll Aston Martin 13 1'47.437 0.899 0.041 234.690
6 Thailand Alex Albon Williams 15 1'47.835 1.297 0.398 233.823
7 Australia Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 14 1'48.081 1.543 0.246 233.291
8 Japan Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 17 1'48.310 1.772 0.229 232.798
9 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 10 1'48.420 1.882 0.110 232.562
10 Mexico Sergio Perez Red Bull 13 1'48.474 1.936 0.054 232.446
11 Canada Nicholas Latifi Williams 13 1'48.485 1.947 0.011 232.422
12 China Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 16 1'48.672 2.134 0.187 232.022
13 United Kingdom Lando Norris McLaren 15 1'49.470 2.932 0.798 230.331
14 Spain Fernando Alonso Alpine 17 1'49.664 3.126 0.194 229.924
15 Germany Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 12 1'49.813 3.275 0.149 229.612
16 France Esteban Ocon Alpine 5 1'50.315 3.777 0.502 228.567
17 Denmark Kevin Magnussen Haas 9 1'50.982 4.444 0.667 227.193
18 Germany Mick Schumacher Haas 15 1'51.259 4.721 0.277 226.627
19 New Zealand Liam Lawson AlphaTauri 14 1'52.065 5.527 0.806 224.997
20 Finland Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 2        

What happened in Belgian GP Free Practice 1?

Lando Norris went straight out with soft tyres on his McLaren, setting the benchmark at 1m49.712s, before Verstappen produced 1m47.456s to grab P1 by over two seconds.

His teammate Sergio Perez went second fastest, 1.6s off on hard tyres, before Verstappen extended his advantage with 1m46.755s, 2.3s ahead of the rest.

Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) got to within 1.6s of that on medium tyres, before Alex Albon grabbed P2 on softs at the halfway point of the session for Williams.

Sainz then set the fastest time at 1m46.538s on softs, 0.217s faster than Verstappen. Leclerc went P2, 0.069s off his teammate, demoting Verstappen to third.

The session was red flagged with 22 minutes remaining when Kevin Magnussen’s Haas ground to a halt with its ERS warning light flashing. That meant a lengthy recovery process as its high-voltage system was still live.

Practice restarted with nine minutes to go, but a rain shower on the far side of the circuit meant there would be no further improvements.

Esteban Ocon suffered a problem with his Alpine, crawling back to the pits in second gear early on. An issue in the drivetrain put him out for the rest of the session.

At least he got to set a time, good for 16th, as Valtteri Bottas didn’t even do that before his Alfa Romeo’s floor needed removing to fix a problem.

Belgian Grand Prix FP2 results: Verstappen fastest from Leclerc

Cla Driver Chassis Laps Time Gap Interval km/h
1 Netherlands Max Verstappen Red Bull 20 1'45.507     238.983
2 Monaco Charles Leclerc Ferrari 21 1'46.369 0.862 0.862 237.046
3 United Kingdom Lando Norris McLaren 17 1'46.589 1.082 0.220 236.557
4 Canada Lance Stroll Aston Martin 16 1'46.635 1.128 0.046 236.455
5 Spain Carlos Sainz Ferrari 20 1'46.649 1.142 0.014 236.424
6 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 18 1'46.893 1.386 0.244 235.884
7 Spain Fernando Alonso Alpine 19 1'46.975 1.468 0.082 235.703
8 United Kingdom George Russell Mercedes 22 1'47.042 1.535 0.067 235.556
9 Australia Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 18 1'47.255 1.748 0.213 235.088
10 Mexico Sergio Perez Red Bull 15 1'47.346 1.839 0.091 234.889
11 Thailand Alex Albon Williams 15 1'47.520 2.013 0.174 234.508
12 China Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 21 1'47.617 2.110 0.097 234.297
13 Japan Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 16 1'47.658 2.151 0.041 234.208
14 France Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 19 1'47.782 2.275 0.124 233.938
15 Germany Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 19 1'47.867 2.360 0.085 233.754
16 France Esteban Ocon Alpine 21 1'47.944 2.437 0.077 233.587
17 Denmark Kevin Magnussen Haas 19 1'48.208 2.701 0.264 233.017
18 Finland Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 21 1'48.419 2.912 0.211 232.564
19 Canada Nicholas Latifi Williams 14 1'48.612 3.105 0.193 232.151
20 Germany Mick Schumacher Haas 23 1'49.941 4.434 1.329 229.344

What happened in Belgian GP Free Practice 2?

Verstappen set the early pace at 1m47.699s on medium tyres, which was briefly topped by Sainz – despite an off at the exit of Fagnes – on 1m47.390s.

Verstappen soon beat that with 1m46.928s and then 1m46.850s, as Sainz and Leclerc suffered big lock-ups approaching Les Combes.

Teams switched to the soft tyres for the second half of the session, with Sainz going fastest on 1m46.649s before Verstappen unleashed 1m45.507s moments later – 1.142s quicker. Leclerc moved into P2 with 1m46.369s, 0.862s off Verstappen’s pace.

Norris was best of the rest, ahead of Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) and Sainz. Hamilton was the fastest of the Mercedes cars in sixth.

After their FP1 travails, Bottas, Ocon and Magnussen enjoyed a troublefree session but all ended in the bottom five places.

Light rain towards the end of the session made the long runs particularly tricky.

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