Bottas starts birthday fastest as Belgian GP action begins

Valtteri Bottas celebrated turning 31 by setting the quickest time as Formula 1 action resumed on Friday at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium.

Bottas, who has never won Formula 1’s Belgian Grand Prix, clocked a time of 1:44.493 to finish 0.069s up on Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton.

Most of the front-runners used Soft tyres – which this weekend are the C4s – to clock their fastest times.

Despite finishing atop it wasn’t all plain sailing for Bottas as after a heavy lock-up into the Bus Stop chicane he slowed shortly afterwards due to a suspected left-front puncture.

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There was little visible external damage but Bottas slowly returned to the pit lane where checks were undertaken.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen kept the Mercedes drivers in check as he finished just 0.012s down on second-placed Hamilton.

Racing Point on form again

Racing Point has history at Spa-Francorchamps, having taken its maiden pole position (1994) and win (1998) at the venue under its Jordan guise.

It has typically performed well around the seven-kilometre track and on Friday maintained both that form and its recent level of speed.

Sergio Perez finished fourth, just 0.136s behind Bottas, while team-mate Lance Stroll was fifth.

Red Bull’s Alexander Albon was sixth while Renault and McLaren completed the top 10 positions, Esteban Ocon leading Carlos Sainz Jr., Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris.

AlphaTauri finished just shy of that group but did so on the Medium tyres, rather than the Softs, with Daniil Kvyat and Pierre Gasly 11th and 12th respectively.

From victory to nowhere

Ferrari triumphed in 2018 and 2019 at Spa-Francorchamps as its power unit advantage served it well around a power-hungry circuit.

But its problems this year meant the team was braced for a struggle and such expectations came to fruition in the 90-minute session.

Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel classified only 14th and 15th respectively, over a second off the pace, and behind even Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen.

With just 17 of the 20 participants able to record a timed effort it meant Ferrari lapped faster only than the Williams drivers, who also expect a tough weekend due to the draggy nature of the FW43.

Medium-shod Nicholas Latifi finished clear of George Russell, who was the only driver to use Hard tyres for his quickest timed lap.

Disastrous start for Haas

Haas’ drivers only managed a handful of installation laps between them before Romain Grosjean came on the radio to report a loss of power.

Grosjean toured back to the pit lane and Haas investigated the issue while it also undertook checks on Kevin Magnussen’s VF-20.

It was determined that the engine had to be removed on both cars to further evaluate the issue and it is expected that the respective units will have to be changed.

It left the duo without a timed effort to their name.

Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi was also unable to post a time due to a technical issue.

Friday’s second practice session is scheduled to begin at 15:00 local time.