Australian driver Oscar Piastri delivered an impressive performance by leading Free Practice 1 (FP1) at the Belgian Grand Prix on Friday, outpacing Red Bull’s Max Verstappen by over four-tenths of a second. Piastri’s strong pace set the tone for the weekend at Spa-Francorchamps, as he appeared motivated following a contentious penalty at Silverstone.
Verstappen secured second place, trailing Piastri by 0.404 seconds, while Piastri’s McLaren teammate Lando Norris finished closely behind in third, a further tenth off Verstappen’s time. Despite their efforts, none of the top drivers managed to approach the Australian’s leading lap during this session.
Performance Struggles for Ferrari and Hamilton at Spa
The FP1 session also highlighted difficulties for Ferrari and Lewis Hamilton. Charles Leclerc ended fifth, more than nine-tenths behind Piastri, while Hamilton was seventh, over a second slower than the McLaren driver. These gaps suggest that both Ferrari and Mercedes have considerable setup or performance challenges to address before sprint qualifying later in the day.
Complete FP1 Results from the Belgian Grand Prix
Below are the top results from Friday’s opening practice session:
1. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) – 1:42.022
2. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) – +0.404
3. Lando Norris (McLaren) – +0.504
4. George Russell (Mercedes) – +0.576
5. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) – +0.906
6. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) – +0.957
7. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) – +1.063
8. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) – +1.090
9. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) – +1.098
10. Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls) – +1.100
The rest of the field showed significantly larger gaps, signaling a clear performance hierarchy as teams prepare for the competitive sessions ahead.
Implications for the Weekend and Upcoming Sessions
Piastri’s dominance in FP1 positions him as a strong contender for both sprint qualifying and the race itself, injecting fresh intrigue into the weekend dynamics. Max Verstappen Belgian Grand Prix ambitions remain strong despite the challenge from McLaren, but his rivals will be keen to see improvements from Ferrari and Mercedes if they hope to close the gap. The results underline the tightly contested nature of Formula 1, where even small differences can have significant impacts on starting positions and race strategy.
Our Reader’s Queries
Q. Did Max Verstappen apologize?
A. Christian Horner shared that Max Verstappen said sorry to the Red Bull team after crashing with George Russell at the Spanish Grand Prix. This crash caused Verstappen to fall from fifth to tenth place because of a 10-second time penalty.
Q. What is Max Verstappen’s baby gender?
A. On May 2, Verstappen, who is 27 years old, shared two pictures of his newborn daughter, Lily, on Instagram. The caption revealed her name: “Welcome to the world, sweet Lily,” he wrote.
Q. Are Lando Norris and Max Verstappen still friends?
A. Yes, quite a lot of drama. Even with these disagreements, both Verstappen and Norris have consistently said that they are still good friends.
Q. Has Max Verstappen apologized to Lando Norris?
A. Norris mentioned he and Verstappen talked after the incident. When asked if Verstappen apologized, Norris said an apology wasn’t needed.
Norris explained that his comments after the race were mostly due to his frustration at that moment.