Oscar Piastri placed Max Verstappen in a comfortable margin before qualifying for the sprint late today to top the Belgian Grand Prix in the sole practice session.
Piastri’s McLaren, powered by Downforce, was untouched in the mid-sector and set him in the top spot, setting him in a purple time 0.932 seconds faster than Verstappen. Verstappen – His Red Bull Racing Car made the straights faster and faster, but faster in the speed-sensitive first and third sectors, but Australia wasn’t enough to overcome the advantages of piastry through corners that top the timesheet with a margin of 0.475s.
Rand Norris was third in his sister McLaren, but Britton’s first lap on soft tires was compromised by his wide running on gravel. A second attempt on the same set of tires moved him to third, but he was 0.504s slower than his title-leading teammate.
Norris was slower than Piastri in all three sectors. Combining his best splits on both laps made him slightly closer with a 0.386S ad-lift.
George Russell placed fourth for Mercedes. Britton was faster than Piastri in the first and third divisions, but is not aligned in the twisted mid-division.
Charles Leclerc piloted the upgraded Ferrari in fifth and 0.906 seconds. Like Red Bull Racing and Mercedes, Italian machines were set up at linear speeds and lost several times via Downforce-dependent corners.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli was the fastest in Mercedes’ final split, but was 0.957 seconds from the pace. He hit Lewis Hamilton there. The second Ferrari driver was missing from his teammate Leclair, mainly in the final split.
Lance’s walk recovered from a 15-minute seat change early in the session – he took five laps to finish the eighth hour ahead of Aston Martin’s teammate Fernando Alonso. Isack Hadjar has completed the top 10 for Racing Bulls.
Carlos Sign’s session was the worst possible start, forcing the Spaniard to return to Pit Lane at the end of his first lap due to a “critical” fuel system issue. His Williams team took 30 minutes to fix the car and Sainz fell to laps, but his fastest tour was 11th, ahead of teammate Alex Albon on the 12th. Sauber drivers Gabriel Boltret and Nico Halkenberg continued to pace at 1.2 and 1.4 seconds respectively.
Liam Lawson was 15 hours ahead of Esteban Ocon, Pierre Guthrie, Yuki Tsunoda and Red Bull Racing Driver 15 and teammate Verstappen.
Franco Colapinto was 19th place behind Oliver Baerman at the back of the field, with the British rookie over three seconds away from the pace.
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