#F1 #BelgianGP FP1: @Max33Verstappen quickest ahead of @OscarPiastri by 0.531s.

Verstappen Belgian GP FP1 – Championship leader Max Verstappen was quickest in the opening FP1 session at the Belgian GP ahead of Hungarian GP winner Oscar Piastri as Williams Racing’s Alexander Albon completed the top three.

Verstappen, who is set for a ten-grid-placed-penalty for taking on a fifth Internal Combustion Engine, posted the session-topping benchmark of a 1:43.372 on the C4 red side-walled compound and was 0.531 seconds faster than Piastri as Albon was a further 0.727 off the Red Bull driver in third.

On what is a high-pressure weekend for Sergio Perez given Red Bull’s intention to assess his spot at the team going forward towards the 2025 campaign over the summer break, the Mexican wounded up 0.957 seconds adrift of his session-topping team-mate.

Albon showed Williams’ package is again strong at the Circuit De Spa-Francorchamps, whilst Mercedes’ Sir Lewis Hamilton complained of “bouncing” aboard his F1 W15 racer during the higher-fuel runs.

After the Mercedes drivers lead the field out of the pits during what was a calm Free Practice 1 session for the ten teams, Verstappen quickly put himself at the head of the leader-board during the early phase on the mediums and hards.

Verstappen’s effort of a 1:44.706 came on the C2 white-marked harder rubber to just knock off Hamilton’s initial flyer and from there the former snipped away at that time over the opening 15-minutes of proceedings to get down to a 1:44.524 over three hot-laps, round which the Red Bull driver had to undertake a cool-down tour, that all his rival competitors did too to control tyre temperatures.

A brief lull in action followed, then Mercedes’ George Russell lead team-mate Hamilton in second and third respectively at this stage of proceedings, in-front of McLaren’s Piastri and Lando Norris (all on mediums) – before Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc put his SF-24 entry between the McLaren pairing with a late flying lap on the yellow-branded mediums before the Monegasque driver then too returned to the pits.

Russell then started the qualifying simulations on the softs, with the Briton ousting Verstappen setting a 1:44.225.

But the reigning world champion was already on course to go even quicker as he ran slightly off the Silver Arrow on the C4 red side-walled tyre, with Verstappen shooting to a 1:43.372 and was not topped then after.

Piastri demoted Russell down to third with an effort 0.706 seconds slower for the Hungarian GP winner, before the McLaren driver then improved on his next hot-lap to go 0.531 seconds adrift of the Dutchman.

After Perez put in a lap-time 0.957 seconds slower than Red Bull team-mate Verstappen – the Mexican regularly wrestled his Honda-RBPT-powered RB20 racer at corner entry and dipping his left-rear into the gravel trap at the final part of Les Combes – Albon moved up the classification for Williams.

Running offset compared to his rivals, Albon posted the best sector one and three efforts, to jump into third and relegate Russell down to fourth. The Briton had fellow Mercedes team-mate Hamilton, Leclerc and Perez behind him in fifth, sixth and seventh respectively.

The field’s main focus was on longer race data run gathering as the 60-minute session wound down – the skies above the Circuit De Spa-Francorchamps clouded over compared to the sunny conditions with which FP1 had begun.

McLaren’s Norris was eighth as Ferrari’s Sainz and Aston Martin’s Stroll rounded out the top ten.

BWT Alpine F1 Team’s Pierre Gasly finished outside the top ten in 11^th place and in-front of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso who took 12^th and RB’s Daniel Ricciardo who came 13^th in the classification.

Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas was 14^th in the order and ahead of Williams’ Logan Sargeant who placed 15^th and RB’s Yuki Tsunoda taking 16^th with the latter set to start at the back of the grid for Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix due to changing all of his power-unit components.

MoneyGram Haas F1 Team duo Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen ended opening practice in 17^th and 18^th respectively as Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon brought up the rear.

Ocon was forced to end his session early due to a suspected water leak issue aboard his A524 racer.

You can see the full Formula 1 Rolex Belgian Grand Prix 2024 Free Practice 1 Results classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results/2024/races/1242/belgium/practice/1

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