Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas went quickest in opening practice at Spa, ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen. The Mercedes driver logged a quickest time of 1:44.493 on the Soft compound tyres to eclipse Lewis Hamilton by just 0.069 seconds.
Soft tyres were very much the order of the session, despite the drivers complaining about their longevity. Bottas was one of the drivers affected, as he suffered a puncture towards the end of the session. This was despite no visible external deflation, and he was able to return to the pits at a reduced pace. He was on his sixth lap on the Softs at the time.
Scuderia Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel finished outside the top-10, in 14th and 15th, well over a second off the session-leading pace. Charles’ Ferrari was in the top four on the McLaren-Renault-led speed trap, but that certainly doesn’t tell the whole story for the Scuderia in a difficult opening session at the Spa-Francorchamps, as the Maranello team’s anticipated struggles on the straights left them well off the pace.
Here are the complete results from the first practice (FP1) session at Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium.
Results (Classification):
Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:44.493
Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +0.069
Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing +0.081
Sergio Perez Racing Point +0.136
Lance Stroll Racing Point +0.375
Alex Albon Red Bull Racing +0.556
Esteban Ocon Renault +0.606
Carlos Sainz McLaren +0.729
Daniel Ricciardo Renault +0.732
Lando Norris McLaren +0.781
Daniil Kvyat Alpha Tauri +0.954
Pierre Gasly Alpha Tauri +1.010
Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo +1.211
Charles Leclerc Ferrari +1.266
Sebastian Vettel Ferrari +1.686
Nicholas Latifi Williams +1.995
George Russell Williams +2.077
Kevin Magnussen Haas – DNS
Romain Grosjean Haas – DNS
Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo – DNS
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