#F1 #BelgianGP FP1: @OscarPiastri quickest ahead of @Max33Verstappen, @LandoNorris.

Piastri Belgian GP FP1 – Championship leader Oscar Piastri topped the sole practice session at the Belgian GP ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and McLaren team-mate Lando Norris who completed the top three.

Piastri posted the session-topping benchmark using the C4 red side-walled softer tyres and was 0.404 seconds ahead of Verstappen whilst Norris was a further 0.504 seconds off the Australian in third.

Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg, who scored his first ever maiden podium last time out at Silverstone lead the field out on the white-marked C1 harder rubber.

All drivers emerged on the C1 harder compounds bar the Haas pairing of Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman along with Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda and Verstappen who were on the C3 yellow-branded mediums.

“I cannot accelerate, I’m going to try and limp home,” radioed Carlos Sainz. “Critical problem – limp mode,” Williams then tell the Spaniard as he returned back to the pits.

RB’s Liam Lawson posted a 1:48.124, which was beaten by Hulkenberg’s 1:47.752, before Mercedes’ George Russell then shot to P1 with a 1:47.356.

The other Silver Arrow F1 W16 of Andrea Kimi Antonelli then jumped to the head of the times on a 1:46.118 as Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda on the mediums slotted behind the Italian.

Norris then put his McLaren on top with a 1:46.082 until Verstappen arrived on the scene with a 1:45.545 on his mediums seven minutes into proceedings.

Charles Leclerc then took his SF-25 racer to second to be 0.454 seconds off the Dutchman with three personal bests on his opening flyer.

Russell then planted his Mercedes into P2 with a 1:45.754 then Antonelli then jumped into P2 on 1:45.569 to go 0.024 seconds adrift of the Dutchman.

Norris, Ocon and Alonso then split the Silver Arrows duo in second, third and fourth respectively as Piastri took top spot with a 1:44.979 with a purple middle sector and two personal bests to go 0.566 seconds clear of the reigning world champion Verstappen as the session past it’s opening ten minutes of proceedings.

Tsunoda with two personal bests moved to P2 on a 1:45.098 as his team-mate Verstappen returned to P1 with a 1:44.236 and be 0.743 seconds ahead of Piastri as Russell moved back into fourth.

Norris then jumped back into P2 then was demoted down a position courtesy of team-mate and championship leader Piastri’s 1:44.800 effort and was over half-a-second down on Verstappen’s benchmark.

Leclerc then placed his Ferrari fourth with a 1:44.982 to end up 0.746 off Verstappen as the Monegasque driver split Norris and Tsunoda.

Ocon with three personal bests shot to second to go 0.067 seconds adrift on the Dutchman as the Haas driver continued on his medium stint.

Tsunoda despite a purple sector one and two personal bests moved up into third to go 0.256 seconds adrift of team-mate Verstappen’s benchmark as the sole-practice session reached the 20^th-minute mark.

Leclerc with three personal bests then jumped to the head of the time-sheets on his harder compounds posting a 1:44.168 to be 0.088 seconds clear of Verstappen.

The Monegasque driver’s team-mate Hamilton then jumped to fourth with a 1:44.367 to be 0.219 seconds adrift after he recently reported: “I have a lot of rear locking and instability.”

There was a lull in action with 35 minutes remaining as the majority of drivers adjusted their setups before heading out again in the only practice session before Sprint Qualifying.

Alpine’s Franco Colapinto was the first to emerge on the softs to end up only 16^th and 1.579 seconds off Leclerc’s benchmark.

Piastri on his harder tyres then moved up to second and was five thousandths of a seconds off Leclerc’s 1:44.148 effort as the session past the half-hour-mark.

An incident involving of impeding by Colapinto on Russell was noted by the stewards. Replays showed Colapinto was on a cooldown lap, Russell was pushing, and as another car peeled off to the right, Russell found himself about to run into the back of the A525 which was solidly on the racing line.

Russell dodged to the left and put two wheels on the grass to miss the Alpine.

Colapinto with two personal bests then moved up to eighth to wound up 0.699 seconds off Leclerc’s benchmark as the drivers continued to circulate the Circuit De Spa-Francorchamps on their long race data gathering runs without any qualifying simulation runs as of yet other than the Argentine (Colapinto).

The steward deemed no further investigation for the incident between Russell and Colapinto as the sole practice session reached its final 20 minutes.

There was a lull in action for eight minutes as the drivers adjusted their setups after completing their long race runs and put on a set of the C4 softs.

Stroll after Colapinto was next to use the C4’s and with two personal bests and a purple sector two moved to the top of the pile on a 1:43.112 to be over a second clear of Leclerc.

Piastri, Verstappen, Tsunoda, Colapinto, Sainz, Alonso, Albon and Gasly all came out on a set of softs for their qualifying simulation stints with less than ten minutes left on the clock.

Piastri was next on his flying tour as the championship leader set two purples to post a 1:42.123 to go fastest and 0.989 seconds clear of Stroll.

Alonso slotted into third behind his team-mate as Albon followed in fourth.

Reigning world champion Verstappen was next with a purple opening and final sector to wound up second and 0.530 seconds down on Piastri’s effort.

Sainz moved into fifth behind his team-mate as Leclerc jumped to third and 0.849 seconds down on Piastri’s effort.

Antonelli on his medium tyres moved into fourth whilst his team-mate Russell slotted into second with a 1:42.598 and was 0.475 seconds off.

Replays showed Norris and Bearman run into the gravel out of Stavelot on this hot-laps – the former dipped his left wheels into the gravel trap whilst the latter went through a wild ride through after carrying too much speed through the corner.

Hamilton planted his Ferrari into sixth to go 0.962 seconds off Piastri’s benchmark.

Norris with two personal bests jumped to second to be over half-a-second off team-mate Piastri’s effort whilst Verstappen then posted a 1:42.426 to snatch second off the former and be 0.404 off Piastri’s session-topping effort.

Russell was next in fourth and in-front of Leclerc who took fifth and Mercedes team-mate Antonelli who placed sixth in the order.

Hamilton ended FP1 in seventh place overall and ahead of Aston Martin duo Stroll and Alonso who were eighth and ninth respectively as RB’s Isack Hadjar completed the top ten.

You can see the full Formula 1 Moet & Chandon Belgian Grand Prix 2025 Free Practice 1 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results/2025/races/1265/belgium/practice/1

#F1 Moet & Chandon #BelgianGP 2025 Preview. #Formula1 #BelgianGrandPrix