#BelgianGP FP1 Report: @ValtteriBottas leads @MercedesAMGF1 one-two. #F1

Valtteri Bottas topped the time-sheets in FP1 at the Belgian GP and ahead of Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton with Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen third.

After Verstappen set the initial pace in the first half of the opening practice session on the medium rubber, Bottas moved to the top after switching to the softer compounds.

Bottas set the benchmark time of a 1:44.493 to take P1 in opening practice and narrowly beat Mercedes team-mate Hamilton, who posted his effort moments after the Finn but was 0.069 adrift.

Verstappen was able to get close to the Silver Arrows after making the swap to the softs, but was 0.081 seconds off of Bottas’ Belgian GP FP1 benchmark.

None of the top-three drivers in the session went out to post multiple fastest lap times through what was a quiet FP1 at Spa-Francorchamps, which was not interrupted by a yellow flag or stoppage.

Bottas suffered a front-left puncture to his W11 EQ Power+ racer during his race simulation runs on the softs in the latter stages of the 90 minute session, but was able to return to his garage.

BWT Racing Point F1 Team’s Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll showed the Silverstone-based outfit’s traditional strong form at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps taking fourth and fifth respectively.

The other Honda-powered RB16 Red Bull entry of Alexander Albon was sixth and almost a tenth down from team-mate Verstappen.

Renault’s Esteban Ocon ended opening practice in seventh and ahead of McLaren’s Carlos Sainz who finished eighth, Renault team-mate Daniel Ricciardo who was ninth and the second McLaren of Lando Norris who completed the top ten.

Norris left Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly furious in the early stages after the latter felt as the Briton was holding him up at Stavelot, with the incident placed into the notebooks by the stewards.

Gasly wound up 12th behind team-mate Daniil Kvyat, as both drivers posted their efforts on the medium rubber.

Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen was 13th and in-front of Ferrari duo Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel who were expecting to struggle on the straights, which left the Maranello-marque well off the pace.

Last year’s Belgian GP race winner Leclerc was a further 1.266 adrift of Bottas’ Belgian GP FP1 benchmark time.

The Williams Racing pairing followed with Nicholas Latifi and George Russell were 16th and 17th respectively.

Haas F1 Team duo Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean, along with Alfa Romeo Racing’s Antonio Giovinazzi all failed to set a lap-time.

Grosjean suffered a loss of power in the early stages of the session, with the Kannapolis-Banbury squad confirming they were changing the Ferrari power-unit due to the issue. Magnussen’s engine also needed to be switched due to a similar issue.

Alfa Romeo Racing said Giovinazzi’s Ferrari-powered C39 encountered a “technical issue”, with the Italian only running two installation laps.

You can read the full Formula 1 Pirelli Belgian GP FP1 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2020/races/1051/belgium/practice-1.html

#F1 @Pirelli #BelgianGP 2020 Preview. @circuitspa