Oscar Piastri topped the first and only practice session for the 2025 Belgian Grand Prix as Max Verstappen was second fastest albeit quite a bit behind.
No surprise there as McLaren remained as the team to beat with Piastri posting a 1:42.022 to go fastest of all and four tenths faster than Verstappen who was second in the Red Bull as Lando Norris was one tenth further down the road in third in the sister McLaren.
Verstappen was losing time to the McLaren in the middle twisty sector while faster in the first and last sectors, his RB21 running a low downforce setup. Yuki Tsunoda who does not have the upgraded RB21 was down in 18th.
George Russell was 0.576s off the pace in fourth and over three tenths clear of Charles Leclerc who was fifth fastest in the Ferrari.
It doesn't seem that Ferrari's hyped rear suspension seems to be working for now, or the team are yet to get their head around setting it up properly for the SF-25.
Kimi Antonelli and Lewis Hamilton were sixth and seventh respectively as Lance Stroll was the faster Aston Martin in eighth with Fernando Alonso ninth.
Isack Hadjar completed the top ten for Racing Bulls.
Buildup towards FP1
After a mini summer break following the British Grand Prix, before the actual summer break, Formula 1 was back in action this weekend for the Belgian Grand Prix.
And while it is always excited when we head to Spa, this weekend carries a lot of significance for several reasons.
We start with Red Bull Racing who enter a new era after their boss of 20 years Christian Horner has been shown the door with Laurent Mekies taking over the role of team boss.
The news of Horner's firing is was kept the news wheel rolling during the break between the British and Belgian Grands Prix, and the focus will be on Red Bull Racing this weekend to see how they fare under their new leadership, which also applies to their junior team, Racing Bulls, who have a new boss as Alan Permane took over the duties of Mekies.
Pirelli's tyre choice this weekend will deliver a curve ball to the teams as they have jumped over one tyre compound in the tyres they have brought.
The Hard tyre will be the C1 this weekend but then Pirelli went for the C3 for Medium and C4 for the Soft, skipping the C2.
In terms of car upgrades, McLaren have come with a track-specific low downforce rear wing for their MCL39. They have also bolted their fourth power unit(s) both for Norris and Piastri.
Ferrari have their new suspension, the one they tested at Mugello last week in addition to tweaked rear wing for ow downforce.
Red Bull have a huge upgrade to their RB21. A new front wing, revised sidepod inlets, a new engine cover as well as a revised front suspension and tweaked rear wheel bodywork.
Mercedes have a revised front wing and rear wheel drum while Aston Martin have a new front wing, new nose, new rear wing and new beam wing.
Alpine brought a track-specific rear and beam wings while Racing Bulls have a new diffuser, revised rear brake duct winglets and a new diffuser.
Williams brought new floor fences, a new floor edge, a revised sidepod inlets and a new engine cover/coke body.
One more thing, this weekend is a Sprint one, so FP1 will be very important for the teams as they head into Sprint qualifying soon after.
FP1 Session Highlights
While early weather forecasts predicted rain for Friday, FP1 started in dry yet cloudy conditions wit track temperatures at 35 degrees Celsius while the air temperature was 20 degrees.
The drivers head out on track with a combination of Medium and Hard tyres.
Carlos Sainz soon reported that he could not accelerate and was in limp home mode, less than one minute into the session. He was informed not to push as there was a critical issue.
Soon Hamilton had a snap coming out of Eau Rouge/Raidillon as both Ferrari cars seem to be running very low. Is the team still experimenting with that new suspension trying to find the optimum ride height?
15 minutes into the session, Antonelli had a huge lockup in Turn 1 and ended up in the run-off area, and Franco Colapinto soon after did the same.
Gabriel Bortoleto soon messed up Turn 18 and went off track, but kept his Sauber in one piece.
Hamilton did not seem happy with his SF-25 and reported: "I have a lot of rear locking and instability."
But Bortoleto was not happy with Hamilton he radioed: "What the f@ck is Hamilton doing? He's always in the middle of the track!"
Then Colapinto had a moment at Pouhon. He took too much kerb and his car snapped, be he managed to hold it.
With less than half he time remaining, Sainz made his way out on track after the team worked on the issue he faced earlier in the session. Stroll also rejoined having had his seat replaced.
Russell then had a close moment with Colapinto who was on a cool down lap. The Briton almost rear-ended the Alpine and had to take evasive action going off track a bit.
Race control took a look at the incident and did not take any action.
Soon Hadjar went out of shape coming out of Eau Rouge/Raidillon and almost lost the car at the top on his way to the Kemmel Straight.
Then Antonelli had a moment in the final chicane, going deep and having to take a shortcut.
The final ten minutes saw teams and drivers bolting on the Soft compound for the first time for some qualifying run.
Verstappen complained he couldn't rotate his car mid corner and that it felt weird.
Norris had a moment on his flying lap and dipped a wheel in the gravel and had to abort it. Bearman, on the other hand, had all his wheels in the gravel.
The session was concluded with practice starts.
Belgian GP FP1 Classification
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