World Champion Max Verstappen opened the Belgian Grand Prix weekend half a second clear at the front of the field.
Verstappen, who leads the standings by 76 points, has taken on a fresh engine and will consequently start 10 places lower from wherever he qualifies at Spa-Francorchamps.
But he got his weekend underway in the strongest possible fashion as he topped the timesheets with a lap of 1:43.372s to finish 0.531s clear of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri.
F1 2024 Belgian Grand Prix – FP1 Results
Williams’ Alex Albon was an eye-catching third-best, ahead of Mercedes pair George Russell and Lewis Hamilton, who complained of a poor rear end and bouncing from the W15 respectively.
Charles Leclerc was the lead Ferrari driver in sixth position, nine-tenths behind Verstappen, ahead of Red Bull’s Sergio Perez.
Verstappen’s nearest challenger in the championship, Lando Norris, was eighth-fastest, as Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll rounded out the top 10.
Pierre Gasly fronted Alpine’s charge in the newly liveried A524 as team-mate Esteban Ocon was sidelined by a suspected water leak.
Ocon completed only an installation lap before being forced to retreat to the garage for the remainder of the session while Alpine strive to remedy the problem.
Fernando Alonso was 12th for Aston Martin while Daniel Ricciardo finished as the lead RB driver in 13th spot, via an early spin exiting the La Source hairpin.
Valtteri Bottas was 14th for Sauber, ahead of Williams’ Logan Sargeant and RB’s Yuki Tsunoda, who has taken a fresh power unit and will start from the rear of the grid.
Haas pair Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen, and Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu, brought up the final timed runners.
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